CFMflr 


Division  jrC  9  9 

Section  .  <S  4"  O'  4 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


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SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


AS  DISCOVERED  FROM  THE  REV.  JOHN  ROBERTS, 
A  HIDDEN  HERO,  ON  THE  WIND  RIVER  INDIAN 
RESERVATION  IN  WYOMING 


v 


BY 


M 

V 


SARAH  EMILIA  OLDEN, 


AUTHOR  OF  “THE  PEOPLE  OF  TIPI  SAPA" 
AND  “KAROC  INDIAN  STORIES” 


MOREHOUSE  PUBLISHING  CO., 

MILWAUKEE,  WIS. 


COPYRIGHT  BY 

MOREHOUSE  PUBLISHING  CO. 
1923 


TO  THE  REVEREND  JOHN  ROBERTS, 
AND  MRS.  ROBERTS 
AND  THEIR  FAMILY, 

THIS  LITTLE  VOLUME  IS 
RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 


Photograph  by  Sprout,  Lander,  Wyo. 

SHOSHONE  INDIAN  WOMAN  AND  BABY 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword . xi 

I.  Preliminary . 1 

II.  The  Shoshones  and  the  Pigmies  .  6 

III.  The  Manners  and  Customs  of  the 

Shoshones . 19 

IV.  Dances  and  Religious  Beliefs  .  .  35 

V.  The  Cemetery  at  Wind  River  .  .  45 

VI.  Characteristics  of  the  Shoshones  48 

VII.  Chief  Washakie . 54 

VIII.  The  Rev.  John  Roberts  ...  65 

IX.  Some  Shoshones . 79 

X.  In  Conclusion . 89 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Shoshone  Indian  Woman  and  Baby  . 

. Frontispiece 

opp. 

Prairie  Scene,  Shoshone  Reservation  .  8 

Barbara  Meyers,  Grand-daughter  of  Saca- 
jawea,  Guide  to  the  Lewis  Expedi¬ 
tion,  1805  18 

Log  Cabin,  Shoshone  Reservation  ...  26 

Bishop  Randall  Hospital,  Lander,  Wyo.  .  30 

Indian  Cemetery,  Wind  River,  Wyo.  .  .  44 

Chief  Washakie . 54 

Crowheart  Butte,  Shoshone  Reservation  56 
Buildings  of  Church  of  the  Redeemer, 

Wind  River,  Wyo . 66 

Shoshone  Mission  School.  Washakie's 
Chapel.  Girls  of  Shoshone  Mission 
School . 88 


FOREWORD 


HE  chief  source  of  information  in  writing 


this  book  was  the  Reverend  John  Roberts 


himself.  Then  I  had  recourse  to  the  Jour¬ 
nal  of  Lewis  and  Clark;  Bird  Woman,  by  James 
Willard  Schultz ;  The  Journal  of  American  His¬ 
tory,  Fulton  Memorial  number  (1907),  contain¬ 
ing  the  very  able  article  (page  467)  by  Grace 
Raymond  Hebard,  Ph.D.,  Pilot  of  the  First 
White  Men  to  Cross  the  American  Continent — 
Sacajawea ;  also,  a  little  book,  Wind  River  Reser¬ 
vation,  Wyoming,  by  the  wife  of  Baird  S.  Cooper. 

Rose  Stagner,  one  of  the  school  girls,  gave  me 
some  information. 

Iva  St.  Clair  and  Molly  Snyder  told  me  little 
stories ;  the  former  two,  the  latter,  one. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PRELIMINARY 


HE  Wind  River  runs  through  western  cen¬ 


tral  Wyoming,  near  the  main  range  of  the 


Rockies.  On  the  eastern  slope  of  these 
mountains  is  the  Shoshone  Indian  Reservation, 
and  that  was  my  destination. 

It  was  a  glorious  morning  when  I  left  Rock 
Springs  on  the  western  border  to  travel  all  the 
way  across  the  state  to  Cheyenne  through  the 
Wyoming  desert  ;  nothing  in  sight  but  endless 
plains  and  low  hills  of  peculiar  limestone  forma¬ 
tion.  Sometimes  one  of  these  hills  appeared  like 
a  mediaeval  fortress  with  all  its  battlements  and 
towers.  The  limestone  bluffs  of  Wyoming  tell 
of  the  ages  which  have  passed,  and  seem  an  emb¬ 
lem  of  everlasting  stability.  A  log  house  here 
and  there,  or  a  white  tent,  made  me  realize  that 
I  was  in  an  Indian  country. 

The  clouds!  I  watched  them  all  day  long. 
Sometimes  pillars  of  them  rested  on  the  earth 
supporting  gigantic  masses  overhead ;  but  most 
of  them  represented  animals  or  people.  Of  an¬ 
tediluvians  there  was  no  end;  and  they  ap- 


2 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


peared  to  be  giving  chase  to  shaggy  polar  bears 
and  fleecy  sheep.  Capricorn,  with  long  horns 
and  beard,  seemed  to  be  looking  on  from  a 
distance  and  grinning  at  them  all.  Then  a  huge 
salmon  or  a  sturgeon  would  float  by  in  the  tur¬ 
quoise  sea  of  air,  open-mouthed  and  gasping  in 
the  high  altitude.  How  calm  and  peaceful  was 
Socrates  with  round  face  and  bald  head,  resting 
on  his  laurels !  Xantippe  was  not  there.  Buddha 
could  be  plainly  seen,  looking  down  upon  the 
earth  with  benign,  placid  countenance.  Who  is 
the  man  with  the  aristocratic,  regular  profile? 
Oh,  what  a  long  skip  from  Buddha !  It  is  surely 
Alexander  Hamilton.  Many  other  worthies  ap¬ 
peared  from  time  to  time,  then  changed  and  dis¬ 
solved  themselves  into  airy  nothing.  Thus  did 
these  imaginary  figures  keep  me  occupied  for 
hours,  and  help  dispose  of  the  tedium  of  the 
journey. 

The  train  pulled  out  of  Cheyenne  that  night  at 
eleven  o’clock;  and  next  morning,  about  five, 
reached  a  God-forsaken  place  called  Orin  Junc¬ 
tion.  There  I  had  to  change  cars,  and  found  in 
this  tiny  hamlet  a  small  hotel,  a  general  store,  a 
few  minute  houses  set  in  the  midst  of  a  limitless 
prairie,  and  any  number  of  cattle  wandering 
about  at  random.  I  watched  the  sunrise  from  a 
sea  of  entrancing  red  and  gold;  but  soon  had  to 
come  down  to  earth,  and  breakfast  at  the  hotel. 
I  tried  to  do  my  duty  by  the  porridge,  pancakes, 
bacon,  and  eggs,  to  which  the  train  hands  seemed 


PRELIMINARY 


3 


to  be  doing  ample  justice.  After  a  nap  in  a  noisy 
room,  I  made  my  way  over  to  the  station. 

The  train  to  Lander,  for  which  I  was  waiting, 
was  due  at  11:25  A.M.,  if  on  time,  which  never 
happened.  This  morning,  to  my  dismay,  I  found 
it  was  annulled !  A  bridge  some  distance  down 
the  line  had  caught  fire  and  been  burned  away; 
and  there  was  no  telling  when  the  train  would 
come  through !  A  kindly  freight  hand  suggested 
my  taking  the  local  at  noon,  to  Douglas.  He  said 
it  was  a  much  better  place  than  Orin  in  which  to 
wait.  Noon  came,  and  I  could  see  no  local,  only 
a  long  freight.  My  benefactor  soon  made  his  ap¬ 
pearance. 

'‘Have  you  made  up  your  mind  to  go  to  Doug¬ 
las?”  he  asked. 

“Yes,”  I  replied,  “but  I  don’t  see  any  local.” 

“This  is  it,”  he  said,  pointing  to  the  freight 
train;  so  there  was  nothing  left  to  do  but  climb 
into  the  caboose.  It  was  a  ride  of  only  fourteen 
miles.  I  found  Douglas  a  nice  little  town,  and  re¬ 
joicing  in  the  ownership  of  a  Carnegie  library. 
Seeing  Back  to  Methuselah  close  at  hand,  I 
whiled  away  an  hour  or  so ;  but  did  not  find 
Bernard  Shaw  at  all  in  accord  with  my  mood. 

I  was  expecting  to  be  called  up  any  time  in 
the  night,  at  the  Hotel  la  Bonte,  to  take  the  11 :25 
A.M.  train  of  the  day  before.  They  thought  it 
might  come  through  at  midnight.  Next  morn¬ 
ing  at  six  my  telephone  rang,  and  I  was  informed 
that  the  train  for  Lander  was  due  at  7 : 15.  About 


4 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


8:15  it  actually  arrived,  or  one  in  place  of  it; 
twenty-one  hours  behind  time !  I  reached  Lander 
in  the  evening,  too  late  for  a  stage  to  Wind 
River.  The  hotel,  there,  was  pleasant,  with  a 
blazing  fire  of  logs  on  the  hearth  in  the  great 
office. 

At  eight  next  morning,  I  found  myself  the 
only  passenger  on  a  stage  packed  with  luggage 
and  mail  bags  and  bound  for  the  Indian  Reserva¬ 
tion.  It  was  a  lovely  drive  of  eighteen  miles  in 
the  bright  sunshine,  past  well-irrigated  farms 
on  either  hand.  Some  were  yielding  their  third 
crop  of  alfalfa  in  one  season.  The  Government 
has  the  management  of  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  the  irrigation  system,  and 
charges  the  farmers  one  dollar  per  acre.  Every¬ 
where  the  Herefords  were  feeding  in  great 
droves — red  cattle  with  white  faces ;  also  the 
coal  black  Polangus  variety,  both  of  them  very 
hardy  and  well  adapted  to  ranch  conditions. 
Large  groups  of  Indians,  employed  by  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  at  six  dollars  a  day,  were  working  on  the 
roads. 

After  the  driver  distributed  the  mail,  by  hurl¬ 
ing  it  with  forceful  and  steady  aim  at  the  various 
boxes  en  route  as  he  drove  rapidly  along,  and 
leaving  several  sacks  at  the  village  of  Wind 
River,  he  took  me  over  to  the  Shoshone  Indian 
School  for  girls.  I  found  in  the  midst  of  these 
green  pastures  and  fine  farm  lands,  a  plain,  old- 
fashioned  brick  residential  building  supple- 


PRELIMINARY 


5 


mented  by  quaint  log  cottages  and  a  log  church 
and  school  house  combined.  I  had  come  here 
for  information  about  the  Shoshones,  and  was  a 
surprise  visitor.  I  was  very  kindly  and  courte¬ 
ously  received  by  the  Rev.  John  Roberts  and  his 
daughters ;  had  the  front  living  room  assigned 
to  me,  and  was  told  that  I  would  be  considered 
the  Bishop’s  guest  while  there.  Mrs.  Roberts 
was  away  on  a  much  needed  vacation. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  SHOSHONES  AND  THE  PIGMIES 

IT  was  providential  that  I  was  led  here  to 
visit  with  such  lovely  Christian  people ;  and 
my  sojourn  with  them  was  most  interesting 
and  delightful.  I  enjoyed,  too,  my  gloriously 
sunny  room  with  its  broad,  entrancing  vistas. 
The  two  youngest  daughters,  Marian  and  Gwen, 
girls  of  unusual  refinement  and  culture, 
were  doing  the  cooking  and  giving  all  the  in¬ 
struction  as  well.  The  school  is  a  veritable  bee¬ 
hive  in  itself;  breakfast  at  seven  for  every  one; 
after  which  the  kitchen  work  is  attended  to  and 
the  dormitories  put  in  order; then  prayers  at  nine. 
There  are  special  days  for  the  girls  to  wash  and 
iron  and  churn  and  sweep  and  mop  and  sew.  Cer¬ 
tain  ones  are  selected  to  prepare  the  vegetables 
for  the  noon  dinner.  The  afternoon  is  devoted 
to  school,  and  then  there  is  time  for  romping  out- 
of-doors  until  six  o’clock. 

The  children  love  to  sing  hymns,  and  at  eve¬ 
ning  prayers  are  allowed  to  sing  six  of  their  own 
choosing;  sometimes  seven  and  eight.  The  girls 
are  nice  and  friendly  and  courteous,  and  seem 


THE  SHOSHONES  AND  THE  PIGMIES 


7 


very  happy  in  their  excellent  home.  On  Satur¬ 
day  mornings  the  parents  or  other  relatives,  at¬ 
tired  in  gay  blankets,  drive  in  their  “buggies”  to 
the  school  and  take  their  respective  children  off 
to  log  cabin  or  tent  until  Sunday  afternoon,  when 
all  assemble  for  service  at  four  o’clock. 

Their  lines  have  fallen  in  pleasant  places,  as 
they  have  a  beautiful  and  extensive  country  for 
their  home.  It  is  as  large  as  a  whole  state  in 
itself,  this  mighty  tableland  of  prairie  over  a 
mile  high,  stretching  far  into  the  unknown,  ex¬ 
cept  where  it  melts  into  the  green,  lavender,  and 
brown  slopes  of  the  Rockies,  rich  in  hemlock  and 
spruce,  and  white  and  yellow  pine  timber.  Then 
there  are  the  sparkling  days,  and  “the  golden  eve¬ 
ning  brightening  in  the  west”,  and  the  great 
brilliant  moon  in  the  spangled,  sapphire  heavens. 
Once  in  awhile  the  shriek  of  the  night  hawk 
came,  weird  and  shrill,  over  the  fields,  and  from 
afar  off  the  wild,  almost  human,  cry  of  the 
coyote.  Here  is  nature  in  all  its  glory ;  and  it 
gives  one  a  feeling  of  intense  nearness  to  the 
Creator.  I  had  not  been  here  long  before  Mr. 
Roberts  told  me  an  interesting  story  about  the 
night  hawk,  or  goatsucker  as  it  is  sometimes 
called;  showing  that  white  men  can  do  just  as 
mean  things  as  Indians. 

Once  upon  a  time,  a  white  man  was  making 
his  way  down  one  of  these  great  mountains.  A 
huge  boulder  loosened  behind  him  and  was  com¬ 
ing  along  rapidly,  threatening  to  crush  him.  He 


8 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


ran  headlong  over  the  trail  and  finally  came  to  a 
washout.  Crouching  down  beside  it  hurriedly, 
he  escaped  being  struck  by  the  boulder;  but  it 
landed  right  over  him  and  pinned  him  in  com¬ 
pletely.  He  called  loudly  for  help.  “What  is 
the  trouble?”  inquired  a  night  hawk,  answering 
his  cries.  “I  must  get  out  of  this  place,”  said  the 
man ;  “but  there  is  no  opening  large  enough.” 
“I’ll  see  that  you  are  freed,”  replied  the  night 
hawk.  The  great  bird  flew  up  to  heaven,  and 
came  down  with  a  rush  of  wind  in  his  wings.  Af¬ 
ter  he  had  done  this  three  times,  the  boulder  di¬ 
vided  in  the  middle.  The  man  crawled  out 
through  the  opening.  Then  he  said  softly  to  his 
deliverer,  which  was  perched  close  to  him  upon 
the  boulder :  “I  want  to  thank  you  for  what  you 
have  done.”  No  sooner  had  he  uttered  these 
words  than  he  seized  the  bird  by  his  great  wide 
beak  and  tore  him  open !  That  is  why  the  night 
hawk  always  flies  about  now  with  his  mouth 
open. 

The  Shoshone  Indians,  before  they  were  lim¬ 
ited  to  the  Wind  River  Reservation,  lived, 
many,  many  years  ago,  all  through  this  region. 
It  was  then  inhabited  by  a  race  of  pigmies  or 
nimerigars  similar  to  those  found  in  Australia 
and  Africa.  The  Arapahoes  said  they  were  of 
very  low  mentality.  They  probably  intermarried 
with  the  Shoshones,  because  some  of  these  In¬ 
dians  are  small  in  stature.  They  were  childlike 
and  irresponsible,  but  remarkably  gifted  in  quali- 


PRAIRIE  SCENE,  SHOSHONE  RESERVATION 


THE  SHOSHONES  AND  THE  PIGMIES 


9 


ties  which  enabled  them  to  procure  food  and  skin 
clothing,  and  to  subsist  under  very  unfavorable 
conditions.  The  pigmies  were  stealthy  stalkers 
and  great  fighters,  too.  The  shots  fired  by  these 
little  people,  with  poisoned  arrows  and  unerring 
aim,  meant  sure  death,  and  picked  off  the  intrud¬ 
ing  Shoshones  rapidly.  The  Arapahoes  say  they 
were  also  cannibals.  They  even  hunted  them 
down,  carried  them  to  their  houses  hewn  out  of 
rocks  in  the  deep  canyons,  and  ate  them.  To 
this  day,  the  houses  of  these  pigmies  can  be  seen 
in  the  depths  of  the  mountains,  and  many  of  their 
skeletons  have  been  found. 

One  brilliant  moonlight  night  a  daring  pigmy 
gave  chase  to  a  big  Arapahoe.  The  latter  on  com¬ 
ing  to  a  narrow  stream,  leaped  over  it.  The 
pigmy  looked  before  he  leaped,  and  found  the 
stream  too  wide  for  him  to  jump  over.  Seeing 
the  moon  and  stars  reflected  in  the  water,  he  said 
to  himself:  “That  creek  is  too  deep  for  me  to 
cross” ;  and  returned  to  his  people.  So  the  Ara¬ 
pahoe  escaped  uninjured. 

The  Shoshones  say  the  pigmies  looked  some¬ 
thing  like  our  Santa  Claus.  They  were  clad  in 
goatskins  and  always  carried  a  great  quiver  of 
arrows  over  their  backs.  Not  so  very  long  ago, 
a  Shoshone  actually  beheld  one.  He  was  walk¬ 
ing  on  the  edge  of  a  very  high  cliff,  when  he 
heard  a  cry  like  that  of  a  child.  Looking  down 
cautiously,  he  saw  one  of  the  little  people  on  a 
ledge,  being  mercilessly  attacked  by  an  eagle. 


10 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


The  Shoshone  clambered  over  the  rocks  and 
drove  the  eagle  away.  The  little  fellow  expressed 
deep  gratitude,  telling  the  Shoshone  he  had  saved 
his  life. 

It  was  almost  impossible  to  kill  these  little 
people ;  but  they  were  so  tormenting  that  the 
Arapahoes  were  determined  to  get  rid  of  them, 
so  they  made  war  on  them  and  exterminated  the 
whole  race.  They  hemmed  them  in  a  great  gorge 
or  canyon  through  which  ran  a  rushing  stream. 
Out  of  this  canyon  there  was  no  way  of  escape, 
excepting  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy.  The 
beleaguering  Indians  had  set  fire  to  the  brush  in 
the  canyon,  which  was  rapidly  making  its  way 
towards  the  pigmies.  They  gathered  in  council 
with  a  view  to  devising  means  of  escape. 

One  little  fellow  stood  up  and  called  out  to  his 
people:  “Who  knows  most?  Let  him  now  stand 
forth  and  tell  us  how  we  can  save  our  women 
and  children  from  being  consumed  by  the  ad¬ 
vancing  fire !”  A  little  wise  one  stood  up  and  re¬ 
plied :  “We 'will  dig  a  hole  in  the  sand  and  put 
our  women  and  children  in  the  hole ;  then  cover 
them  with  an  earthen  roof,  so  that  the  fire  can¬ 
not  reach  them.  Another  little  brown  man  clam¬ 
bered  to  the  top  of  a  rock,  and  calling  out  to  his 
people,  asked:  “How  do  we  cook  meat?  We 
make  a  hole  in  the  ground ;  we  put  our  meat  in 
the  hole ;  we  cover  it  with  an  earthen  roof ;  we 
light  a  fire  on  the  roof ;  that’s  the  way  we  roast 
our  meat.  Do  we  want  to  roast  our  women 


THE  SHOSHONES  AND  THE  PIGMIES 


11 


and  children?”  So  that  plan  was  abandoned. 

The  crier  again  went  through  the  ranks  and 
called  out  to  his  people:  “Who  knows  most? 
Who  knows  most?  Let  him  now  tell  us  how  we 
can  save  our  women  and  children  from  the  ad¬ 
vancing  fire.”  Directly,  another  little  pigmy 
named  Solomon  arose  and  said:  “We  will  place 
them  in  the  river,  with  their  heads  above  water; 
that  is  the  way  we  will  save  our  women  and  chil¬ 
dren.”  After  a  short  silence  another  little  pigmy 
mounted  a  rock  and  asked  the  assembly :  “How 
do  we  boil  buffalo  meat?”  He  himself  replied: 
“We  make  a  hollow  in  the  ground;  we  open  out 
the  buffalo  hide;  and  fitting  it  carefully  in  the 
hollow,  we  fill  it  with  river  water.  We  put  our 
meat  in  cold  water.  We  light  a  fire  and  heat 
rocks,  and  drop  the  hot  rocks  into  the  water  un¬ 
til  it  boils  and  cooks  our  buffalo  meat;  that  is 
how  we  cook  our  buffalo  meat.  The  fire  is  ad¬ 
vancing  upon  us  in  the  brush  on  each  side  of 
the  creek.  It  will  heat  the  rocks,  boulders,  and 
stones,  do  we  want  to  boil  our  women  and  chil¬ 
dren?”  So  that  plan,  too,  was  not  feasible. 

In  despair,  again  the  tribal  crier  called  out, 
“Who  knows  most?  Who  knows  most?  Let  him 
again  come  forth  and  tell  us  how  we  can  save  our 
women  and  children  from  the  fire  that  draws 
near  us.”  Then  an  important  little  wiseacre,  as 
brown  as  a  berry,  stood  forth  and  said :  “I  know 
of  a  plan  by  which  we  can  save  our  women  and 
children  from  the  fire.  Do  you  see  these  tall 


12 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


trees  around  us?  Let  us  now  hurriedly  build 
nests  in  their  topmost  branches;  and  let  us  place 
therein  our  women  and  children,  where  they  will 
be  safe,  out  of  the  reach  of  the  fire.  That  is  what 
we  will  do !”  They  one  and  all  shouted:  “He 
knows  most !  He  knows  most !  He  has  shown 
us  how  to  save  our  women  and  children !” 

So  the  nests  were  placed  very  high  in  the  trees, 
and  the  women  and  children  were  packed  in  them 
for  safety.  Meantime  the  great  sea  of  fire  was 
rolling  up  the  canyon  and  soon  reached  the  trees, 
burning  them  down,  together  with  the  nests ;  so 
the  women  and  children  were  all  destroyed.  The 
pigmies  themselves  had  no  means  of  escape,  and 
that  is  why  there  are  no  pigmies  to  trouble  us 
today. 

This  narrative  shows  their  low  mentality.  Ni- 
nimbeb,  or  the  personified  Bad  Luck  of  the  Sho¬ 
shones,  of  whom  more  will  be  told  later,  was 
probably  the  result  of  the  pigmies  and  their 
pranks.  They  were  generally  invisible,  and  nearly 
always  in  the  woods,  or  in  the  shade  of  canyons. 

(It  is  the  same  way  in  Africa.  A  negro  woman 
has  her  baby  lying  in  the  shade  close  beside  her ; 
a  pigmy  comes  along,  takes  it  away,  and  puts  a 
pigmy  baby  in  its  place.  If  a  negro  pursues  it 
he  is  shot  by  some  invisible  foe  in  the  brush.  The 
pigmy  if  he  steals  vegetables,  always  leaves 
a  piece  of  venison  in  payment.  If  he  is  followed 
up,  the  pursuer  is  invariably  shot  with  a  poisoned 
arrow.) 


THE  SHOSHONES  AND  THE  PIGMIES 


13 


The  real  name  of  the  Shoshones  is  Nimina 
(people).  They  are  the  people;  everyone  else  is 
outlandish.  They  call  themselves  Shoshones  only 
to  the  whites  and  members  of  strange  tribes. 
Their  name  is  derived  from  Shont-Shonip,  which 
means  abundance  of  grass,  because  they  always 
camped  where  the  grass  was  plentiful.  It  was 
also  the  material  with  which  they  formerly  con¬ 
structed  their  wigwams.  They  are  divided  into 
three  bands;  the  So-so-go  or  walkers,  who  al¬ 
ways  went  everywhere  on  foot ;  second,  the  Doo- 
goo-riga,  or  sheep-eaters.  This  band  was  more 
intelligent,  and  very  warlike.  They  wandered 
off  into  the  mountains  and  took  their  dogs  with 
them.  They  found  mountain  sheep  in  abun¬ 
dance  ;  when  the  dogs  saw  the  sheep  on  an  emi¬ 
nence,  they  surrounded  them  and,  holding  them 
at  bay,  waited  until  the  Indians  came  forward  to 
kill  them  with  their  flint-headed  arrows.  The 
third  band,  the  Shoshones,  was  the  smallest  of 
all,  but  very  influential,  and  gave  their  name  to 
the  whole  tribe.  They  may  have  come  in  con¬ 
tact  with  some  high  official  through  whom  the 
one  name  was  given  to  all  the  bands.  The  Sho¬ 
shones  themselves  are  a  band  of  the  Snake  tribe; 
who  are  called  Snakes  because  they  are  so  illu¬ 
sive.  Some  of  this  tribe,  too,  are  known  to  eat 
snakes. 

The  Shoshones  carried  on  a  brisk  trade  in 
shells  obtained  from  the  Coast  Indians.  In  the 
early  days  Wyoming  was  the  great  fur,  buffalo, 


14 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


and  game  middle  range  of  the  continent.  Its 
mountain  fastnesses  and  deep  canyons  concealed 
both  game  and  men.  Coming  gradually  into  con¬ 
tact  with  agents  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
or  the  French  Canadians,  the  Shoshones  obtained 
beads  and  firearms ;  and  many  of  the  older  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  tribe  can  speak  French.  The  Cana¬ 
dians  established  trading  posts  among  them  as 
early  as  1805  and  1806.  A  report  then  reached 
Congress  that  this  region  was  worthless;  merely 
a  hunting  ground  for  Indians.  Thomas  Jefferson, 
who  was  President  at  that  time,  thought  it  would 
be  well  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  commis¬ 
sioned  two  young  men,  Captain  Meriweather 
Lewis  and  Captain  William  Clarke,  to  find  out  a 
way  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  ascertain  whether 
this  great  western  land  was,  or  was  not,  worth 
claiming  for  the  United  States. 

When  Lewis  and  Clark,  with  their  party  of 
men,  in  the  autumn  of  1804  reached  the  Mandan 
and  Minnetaree  Indian  villages  not  far  from  the 
present  sight  of  Bismarck,  North  Dakota,  they 
built  a  fort  and  established  themselves  for  the 
winter.  There  they  became  acquainted  with  a 
French  Canadian  trader,  Touissant  Charboneau. 
He  was  then  married  to  two  Shoshone  Indian 
girls  whom  he  had  won  in  gambling  from  a  Min¬ 
netaree  chief.  This  chief  had  captured  the  girls 
during  a  fierce  battle  with  the  Shoshones. 

When  the  ice  broke  up  in  the  spring  of  1805, 
Lewis  and  Clark,  prepared  to  start  westward  on 


THE  SHOSHONES  AND  THE  PIGMIES 


15 


their  journey,  employed  Charboneau  to  be  their 
interpreter  and  to  accompany  them  to  the  Every- 
Where-Salt-Water  (the  Pacific  Ocean).  But 
Sacajawea,  his  favorite  wife,  the  younger  Sho¬ 
shone  Indian  girl,  proved  to  be  the  real  interpre¬ 
ter  as  well  as  guide,  and  so  made  a  place  for  her¬ 
self  in  history.  She  was  only  fifteen  when,  with 
her  helpless  baby  boy,  she  piloted  the  party  of 
government  men  on  their  long,  dangerous,  and 
fatiguing  route.  Sacajawea  was  nice-looking; 
short  of  stature,  spare  of  figure,  rapid  in  her 
movements.  In  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Journals  it 
is  recorded  that  she  was  keenly  intelligent  and 
observant;  full  of  resources  in  trouble,  plucky 
and  determined.  She  guided  the  party  unerringly 
through  mountain  passes  and  lonely  places. 
Cheerful,  resourceful,  tireless,  faithful,  she  in¬ 
spired  them  all.  She  was  capable,  too,  of  real, 
genuine  deep  feeling,  manifested  to  such  a  de¬ 
gree  that  it  astonished  Lewis  and  Clark.  It  was 
her  devotion  to  their  cause  which  made  the  ex¬ 
pedition  a  success,  all  the  way  to  the  Big-Water- 
near-the-Setting-Sun ;  so  it  is  largely  owing  to 
this  Shoshone  Indian  woman  that  the  part  of  our 
country  now  called  Washington,  Oregon,  Idaho, 
and  Wyoming,  was  considered  of  value,  and  re¬ 
tained  by  the  United  States  Government.  It 
has  been  well  said  that  this  journey  resulted  in 
the  greatest  real  estate  transaction  ever  recorded 
in  history. 

The  name  Sacajawea,  according  to  Mr.  Rob- 


16 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


erts,  who  has  made  a  careful  study  of  the  Sho¬ 
shone  language,  is  derived  from  Sac — canoe, 
boat  or  raft;  a — the,  jawe — launcher.  The  final 
a  is  supposed  to  be  silent.  She  obtained  the 
name  Sacajawea  from  being  so  efficient  in  help¬ 
ing  to  launch  the  boats  on  the  great  western 
journey.  She  is  also  called  Bo-i-naw  or  Grass 
Woman;  and  Bird  Woman. 

Sacajawea’s  life  has  two  periods;  that  in  the 
vigor  of  her  splendid  young  womanhood;  then  in 
old  age,  white  haired  and  well  preserved.  Her 
two  sons,  Baptiste,  the  infant  that  accompanied 
her  to  the  Pacific  and  back,  and  Basil,  the 
adopted  child  of  her  sister,  who  died,  were  per¬ 
sonally  known  to  Mr.  Roberts.  He  states  that  in 
1883  Sacajawea,  then  living  on  the  Shoshone 
reservation,  was  wonderfully  active  and  intelli¬ 
gent,  considering  her  great  age.  She  was  illiter¬ 
ate,  but  spoke  French,  as  did  her  two  sons.  She 
walked  alone  and  was  bright  to  the  last.  Saca¬ 
jawea  had  no  sickness,  but  was  found  dead  one 
morning,  April  9,  1884,  on  her  shake-down  of 
blankets  and  quilts  in  her  tipi.  In  the  afternoon 
of  the  same  day,  Mr.  Roberts  gave  her  Christian 
burial,  laying  her  to  rest  and  to  await  her 
resurrection.  So  the  State  of  Wyoming, 
which  was  not  traversed  by  the  explorers  either 
on  the  journey  to  the  Coast  or  on  the  return, 
claims  the  distinction  of  having  had  the  re¬ 
nowned  Indian  woman  guide  a  resident  within 
its  borders  for  many  years,  and  holds,  now, 


THE  SHOSHONES  AND  THE  PIGMIES 


17 


all  that  is  mortal  of  this  native-born  Amer¬ 
ican. 

No  further  mention  is  made  of  this  woman  un¬ 
til  twenty  years  later,  when  Mr.  Bruno  Louis 
Zimm,  the  New  York  sculptor,  prepared  to  model 
a  statue  of  Sacajawea  for  the  St.  Louis  Fair  in 
1904.  Mr.  Zimm  spent  a  year  in  studying  the 
literature  and  ethnology  involved  in  this  subject. 
When  the  time  came  for  him  to  procure  a  model 
typical  of  a  woman  of  the  Shoshone  tribe,  he  was 
instructed  to  correspond  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Rob¬ 
erts,  who  had  then  worked  among  these  people 
as  a  missionary  for  over  twenty-years.  Mr.  Rob¬ 
erts  directed  Mr.  Zimm’s  attention  to  one  of  the 
young  Shoshone  women,  Miss  Virginia  Grant, 
who  was  at  that  time  a  student  at  the  Carlisle  In¬ 
dian  School.  She  is  pronounced  to  be  decidedly 
typical  of  this  tribe.  Mr.  Roberts  at  the  same 
time  examined  his  parish  records,  which  he  had 
carefully  kept  since  assuming  his  duties  with  the 
Shoshone  Indians,  and  found  noted  under  date 
of  1884,  Apr.  9th ;  “Basil’s  mother,  Shoshone,  one 
hundred  years ;  residence,  Shoshone  Agency ; 
cause  of  death,  old  age;  place  of  burial,  Burial 
Ground,  Shoshone  Agency.” 

It  is  said  that  the  statue  made  by  Mr.  Zimm 
not  only  depicts  the  true  type  of  a  Shoshone 
woman,  but  also  portrays  Sacajawea’s  nature. 
It  is  a  stoical  figure,  expressing  calm  endurance 
and  suffering,  and  on  the  face  an  expression  of 
patient  curiosity.  She  wears  the  Minnetaree  cos- 


18 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


tune.  The  papoose  is  modelled  after  the  child 
of  William  Sitting  Bull,  son  of  the  great  chief. 

Mrs.  Eva  Emily  Dye  attracted  considerable  at¬ 
tention  to  the  Shoshone  heroine  in  her  book,  The 
Conquest.  In  1905,  at  the  time  of  the  Lewis  and 
Clark  Exposition  held  in  Portland,  Oregon,  Miss 
Alice  Cooper’s  spirited  and  graceful  statue  was 
erected  by  the  women  of  Oregon  at  a  cost  of 
$7,000.  It  represents  an  ideal  type,  an  Indian 
woman  clad  in  soft  skins ;  and  folded  firmly  into 
them  on  her  back  is  a  sweet  little  child.  The 
head  of  Sacajawea  is  uplifted,  her  right  arm 
and  hand  are  stretching  forward,  and  she  is 
standing  on  a  lofty,  rough  rock. 


BARBARA  MEYERS 

Grand-daughter  of  Sacajawea,  Guide  to  the 
Lewis  Expedition,  1805. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE 
SHOSHONE  INDIANS 

THE  Shoshones,  or  the  human  denizens  of 
this  glorious  land,  lived  first  in  their 
grass-thatched  wigwams,  but  often  be¬ 
took  themselves  to  the  dens  and  caves  of  the 
mountains ;  in  less  fear  of  the  wild  beasts  than 
of  their  powerful  enemies  who  roamed  the  plains. 
After  a  time  they  built  themselves  small,  com¬ 
pact  houses  with  one  room,  of  slender  logs  and 
slightly  sloping  roof.  These  are  still  used  among 
them,  as  well  as  the  picturesque  tipis  and  the  low 
army  tents. 

CLOTHING 

The  Shoshone  Indians  wore  buckskin  cloth¬ 
ing  made  from  the  skins  of  mountain  sheep,  very 
soft  and  pliable,  and  prepared  by  themselves. 
Two  skins  were  sewed  together  with  the  tail  ends 
uppermost,  the  hoofs  and  tails  being  left  for  or¬ 
naments,  and  the  fore  hoofs  trailing  on  the 
ground.  This  was  peculiarly  the  dress  for  the 
women.  Over  these  skin  garments  were  worn 
heavier  ones  of  deer  or  elk  skin,  and  in  winter, 


20 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


buffalo  robes,  when  they  could  be  procured. 

The  skin  dresses  were  ornamented  with  por¬ 
cupine  quills  and  shells  obtained  from  the  Coast 
Indians.  Later,  they  were  elaborately  adorned 
with  beads  which  came  to  them  in  large  quanti¬ 
ties  through  trading  with  the  French  Canadians. 
The  Shoshone  women  now  wear  gowns  of  red 
or  blue  trade  cloth,  gaily  colored  blankets,  and 
sometimes  beaded  moccasins.  Their  hair,  in  two 
braids,  hangs  in  front  over  each  shoulder  and 
they  adorn  themselves  with  many  chains  of 
beads  and  shells.  The  men  wear  the  ordinary 
clothing  of  the  whites,  supplemented  by  tall- 
crowned,  wide-brimmed  felt  hats  of  light  gray, 
brown,  or  black,  the  crowns  being  wound  about 
with  scarfs  of  various  colors.  They  are  also  par¬ 
tial  to  bright-colored  neckerchiefs ;  and  some  of 
them  have  handsome  fur  coats.  They  still  wrap 
themselves  in  their  blankets  when  at  home  or 
driving  in  their  open  wagons. 

OCCUPATIONS 

The  women  did  all  the  work  and  made  the 
clothing.  The  beadwork  designs  of  the  Shoshones 
consist  entirely  of  flowers.  The  usual  occupa¬ 
tions  of  the  men  were  hunting,  trapping,  and 
fighting.  The  trappers  secured  pine  logs,  bored 
holes  in  them  about  an  inch  in  diameter,  and 
filled  them  with  melted  fat  mixed  with  strych¬ 
nine  and  sugar.  The  male  wolves  came  and  ate 
the  fat,  licking  it  slowly.  The  poison  had  time 
to  act  before  they  could  get  away  from  the  logs. 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


21 


In  fighting  their  enemies  the  Shoshones  used 
poisoned  arrows.  They  secured  the  poison  by 
placing  the  liver  of  an  antelope  or  a  deer  on  an 
ant  hill,  which  aggravated  the  ants  to  such  an  ex¬ 
tent  that  they  filled  the  liver  with  their  venom. 
Then  it  was  cut  into  small  pieces  and  dried  and 
afterwards  reduced  to  powder.  This  substance, 
a  deadly  poison,  was  rubbed  on  the  points  of 
their  arrows.  It  caused  gangrene  which  was  fol¬ 
lowed  by  death. 

JUSTICE 

In  the  case  of  murder,  which  was  very  rare, 
the  nearest  relative  became  the  avenger,  and  was 
justified  in  taking  the  life  of  the  murderer. 

MARRIAGES 

The  infant  daughters  of  these  Indians  were  of¬ 
ten  betrothed  by  the  father  to  men  who  were 
grown,  either  for  themselves  or  for  their  sons. 
If  this  was  not  the  case,  the  father  of  the  young 
man  sometimes  asked  the  relatives  of  the  young 
woman  fancied  by  his  son  whether  it  was  agree¬ 
able  to  them  for  his  son  to  take  her  unto  himself. 
There  was  no  special  ceremony.  The  Shoshone 
simply  took  the  girl  or  woman  he  selected  to  his 
tent  or  lodging,  with  perhaps  an  extra  supply  of 
skins,  porcupine  quills,  chains  of  shells,  or  a 
horse. 

These  Indians  treated  their  wives  very  cruelly, 
often  beating  them  so  severely  as  to  kill  them. 
They  gashed  the  faces  of  the  poor  women,  too, 


22 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


and  cut  off  their  noses ;  a  plain  case  of  “cutting 
off  your  nose  to  spite  your  face” ;  for  what  must 
their  appearance  have  been  ever  after  ?  But  the 
Shoshone  men  had  not  a  keen  eye  for  beauty. 
They  insisted  that  their  wives  deserved  ill-treat¬ 
ment,  because  they  behaved  so  badly. 

0 

CHILDREN 

The  children  of  these  Indians  did  not  undergo 
the  training  that  was  common  among  the  Sioux 
and  other  tribes.  They  were  wild  birds.  Once 
a  Shoshone  sold  a  horse  to  a  white  man  and  was 
paid  cash.  After  a  little  time  he  returned  for  the 
animal.  “Give  it  back  to  me !”  he  said  to  the 
owner.  “It  is  my  son’s  horse,  but  I  will  keep  the 
money !”  The  boy  was  on  hand  to  shoot  the 
white  man  if  he  did  not  return  the  horse  at  once. 

They  are  very  cruel  to  animals,  and  still  catch 
rabbits  with  their  hands.  They  chase  the  poor 
little  creatures  until  they  are  tired  out,  and  then 
fall  on  them.  Again  they  take  the  withes  of 
thorn  bushes  and  stir  them  around  in  the  rabbit 
holes.  The  long  thorns  become  twisted  in  the 
hair  of  the  rabbits,  making  it  easy  to  drag  them 
cut;  then  they  torment  the  poor  beasts  by  beat¬ 
ing  them  or  by  prolonged  strangling. 

.  MEDICINE  MEN,  DISEASES 

Bah-witch-yagat — Buffalo  Bellowing,  or  Bull 
Lake. 

Bull  Lake  is  an  enchanted  sheet  of  water  sit¬ 
uated  in  a  deep  canyon.  When  the  wind  rushes 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


23 


through  this  gorge  it  sounds  like  a  buffalo  bel¬ 
lowing.  Then  the  Indian  medicine  men  can  see 
a  huge,  gray  buffalo  rise  from  the  lake.  As  he 
stands  on  the  water,  the  buffalo  shakes  his  mane 
and  tail,  and  bellows  with  a  roar  like  thunder. 
Near  the  water’s  edge  is  an  enchanted  rock  or 
cliff ;  and  on  it  are  hieroglyphics ;  writing,  or 
magic,  is  what  the  Indians  call  these  signs. 

A  Shoshone  who  wants  to  be  a  medicine  man 
has  to  go  to  this  lake  and  sleep  near  it  all  night. 
He  then  becomes  endowed  with  magic  or  spiri¬ 
tual  power.  A  certain  Indian,  named  Ti-bot-sie, 
thought  he  would  try  the  experiment.  He  tied 
his  horse  to  a  tree  a  long  way  off,  then  went  over 
to  the  lake  and  endeavored  to  compose  himself 
to  sleep.  All  night  long  he  heard  awful  sounds 
and  beheld  terrible  ghosts.  He  was  so  frightened 
that  he  covered  his  head  securely  with  his  blan¬ 
kets.  Ti-bot-sie  was  determined,  though,  to  be¬ 
come  a  medicine  man.  He  braved  these  terrors 
until  shortly  before  dawn,  when  a  rattlesnake 
interfered  and  buzzed  so  close  to  his  ear  as  to 
upset  his  over-wrought  nerves  entirely.  Ti-bot- 
sie  jumped  up,  fled  to  his  horse,  and  rode  away 
like  the  wind.  So  he  could  not  become  a  medicine 
man,  because  he  was  overcome  with  fear  at  Buf¬ 
falo  Lake. 

Ti-bot-sie  went  hunting  one  day  with  a  friend 
of  Mr.  Roberts.  His  companion  shot  seven  times 
at  an  elk  across  the  lake  in  the  mountains.  The 
animal  never  moved.  “Stop !”  shouted  Ti-bot-sie 


24 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


rushing  to  the  man  and  holding  down  his  arms. 
“That  is  not  an  elk;  it  is  an  apparition!” 

As  a  rule  these  Indians  are  not  afraid  to  pick 
up  rattlesnakes.  Moo-yah-vo,  a  Shoshone  cate¬ 
chist,  seized  one  by  the  neck,  which  prevented 
its  biting  him.  The  snake  was  very  strong,  and 
wound  itself  about  Moo-yah-vo’s  arm.  Another 
Indian,  seeing  a  rattler  advancing  towards  him, 
laid  his  hand  on  the  ground,  and  let  the  snake 
crawl  over  it  as  well  as  up  his  sleeve;  and  it  was 
not  a  rattlesnake  that  anyone  else  had  had  any 
dealings  with. 

These  doctors  or  medicine  men  sang  and 
danced  around  the  patient  to  the  beating  of  a 
drum.  They  often  cut  the  arms  and  legs  of  the 
sick  as  a  cure  for  the  disease ;  and  sometimes  gave 
them  a  medicine  made  of  herbs.  These  men,  as 
a  rule,  went  about  and  assumed  that  they  had  the 
power  or  spirit  of  medicine  in  them.  Mr.  Roberts 
told  me  of  a  doctor  who  had  papers  to  show  his 
authority.  One  night  this  medicine  man  was  ly¬ 
ing  awake  in  his  tipi.  He  heard  his  name  called 
two  or  three  times  by  someone  from  above,  and 
he  finally  answered. 

“Come  out  of  your  tipi,”  said  the  voice. 

He  immediately  went  outside  but  could  dis¬ 
cern  no  one. 

In  a  moment  the  Voice  said:  “I  give  this  paper 
to  you.” 

He  looked  up  and  saw  a  paper  floating  from 
the  sky  down  towards  his  tipi.  He  ran  up  the 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


25 


tipi  pole ;  and  standing  on  the  topmost  end,  tip¬ 
toe,  seized  the  document  as  it  went  by. 

“And  that  is  the  way,”  said  he,  “in  which  I  got 
my  papers  giving  me  authority  to  become  a 
medicine  man.” 

He  chewed  roots,  and,  mixing  the  juice  with 
water,  dispersed  it  over  the  patient,  as  a  Chinese 
laundryman  of  old  sprinkled  clothes.  He  also 
used  suggestion,  often  saying  to  the  sick  man 
or  woman:  “You  are  not  sick  now!” 

“No,  I  am  not,”  was  the  reply. 

“You  are  much  better.” 

“Yes,  I  am.” 

The  medicine  man  still  retains  his  great  influ¬ 
ence  ;  and  the  Shoshones,  in  cases  of  serious  ill¬ 
ness,  believe  more  in  him  than  they  do  in  the 
physicians  furnished  by  the  Government. 

The  Shoshone  medicine  men  formerly  pos¬ 
sessed  a  kind  of  talisman  in  the  shape  of  a  small 
black  stone.  When  they  took  it  with  them  to  the 
lodge  or  cabin  of  a  person  who  was  ill,  for  the 
purpose  of  healing  him,  it  was  sure  to  bring 
about  good  health ;  but  if  a  medicine  man  had  a 
grudge  against  the  family,  or  if  he  was  paid  by 
an  enemy  to  bring  affliction  upon  that  family,  he 
carried  the  little  stone  to  their  lodge,  and  left  it, 
securely  hidden.  The  family  would  then  invari¬ 
ably  be  visited  with  severe  illness  or  even  death. 
If  this  little  black  stone  were  rubbed  on  a  bullet 
or  the  point  of  an  arrow,  the  aim  of  either  would 
be  unerring. 


26 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


Some  years  ago  a  Shoshone  came  to  Mr.  Rob¬ 
erts  in  great  distress.  He  had  recently  lost  his 
wife  from  consumption.  As  she  was  dying,  she 
turned  to  him  and  asked  him  to  tell  her  the  pre¬ 
cise  truth.  “About  what?”  he  inquired. 

“Why,  whether  you  are  tired  of  me  or  not,” 
she  whispered.  “Haven’t  you  the  little  black 
stone,  the  talisman,  hidden  in  our  lodge  so  as  to 
get  rid  of  me?” 

“It  pained  me  very  much,”  said  the  Indian,  “to 
have  her  doubt  my  love  for  her.” 

At  this  point  Mr.  Roberts  told  me  a  story  of 
an  Arapahoe  who  considered  himself  especially 
called  to  be  a  medicine  man.  “I  was  young,”  he 
said,  “an  orphan  and  very  poor.  I  went  out  on 
the  great  plains  and  wept  and  bewailed  my  mis¬ 
fortune.  While  in  this  state  of  grief,  I  looked 
up,  and  in  front  of  me  were  a  bear,  a  badger, 
and  an  eagle.  ‘What  is  your  trouble?’  said  they 
to  me,  and  I  told  them.  ‘Don’t  weep ;  cheer  up !’ 
they  answered ;  ‘we  will  make  you  a  medicine 
man.  As  a  reward  for  your  work,  you  will  be 
rich.’  After  a  long  silence  the  bear  looked  at 
me,  plucked  off  one  of  his  claws,  and  passed  it  to 
me  with  the  words :  ‘By  this  token  I  bestow  upon 
thee  all  knowledge  which  exists  on  this  earth.’ 
After  a  while  the  little  badger  bowed  to  me.  Then 
he  pulled  off  his  claw  and  handed  it  to  me,  say¬ 
ing:  ‘With  this  token  I  bestow  upon  thee  all 
knowledge  under  the  earth.’  Last  of  all  the 
eagle  passed  me  one  of  his  talons  and  said :  ‘With 


LOG  CABIN,  SHOSHONE  RESERVATION 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


27 


this  token  I  bestow  on  thee  all  knowledge  in  the 
heavens  above  the  earth/  ”  “Here  they  all  are,” 
said  the  Indian  to  Mr.  Roberts;  and  pulling  out 
a  buckskin  string  which  he  wore  around  his  neck, 
he  showed  him  suspended  upon  it  the  claw  of 
a  bear,  one  of  a  badger,  and  the  talon  of  an 
eagle.  “What  do  you  think  of  that?”  he  asked. 
“For  a  man  to  tell  lies  about  another  human  be¬ 
ing  is  a  very  bad  thing,”  replied  Mr.  Roberts, 
“but  to  tell  lies  about  God,  as  you  have  done,  is 
a  heap  worse.”  The  Indian,  turning  as  white  as 
a  sheet,  was  evidently  very  much  frightened.  He 
got  up,  saying  as  he  went  out :  “But  I  pray  to 
God  not  to  take  me  away.” 

Some  little  time  ago,  one  of  the  Shoshones 
stabbed  another  in  the  back.  The  knife  did  not 
penetrate  far,  for  it  struck  a  bone.  The  Indian 
who  was  wounded  remarked,  “He  could  not 
harm  me;  I  have  a  turtle’s  shell  inside  of  me, 
under  my  skin.  I  can  take  the  turtle  out  through 
my  mouth  whenever  I  choose ;  I  am  a  medicine 
man !”  Mr.  Roberts  in  talking  with  another  In¬ 
dian  about  it  said:  “Do  you  believe  that?” 
“Why  yes,  of  course,”  he  replied,  “That  man 
showed  me  the  turtle;  it  was  in  his  tent!” 

A  Shoshone  Indian  boy,  well  known  to  Mr. 
Roberts,  was  very  ill,  and  became  unconscious. 
The  parents  called  in  a  medicine  man.  “The 
moog-wah,  the  personality  of  the  boy,  is  gone,” 
he  said.  “There  is  nothing  left  but  the  breath.  I 
shall  have  to  die  myself  in  order  to  call  him  back. 


28 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


Come  into  the  other  room,”  he  requested  of  the 
boy’s  father.  “Now  I  am  going  to  be  dead”  said 
he.  “I  will  lie  down  on  the  floor  perfectly  still. 
Then  turn  me  over  on  my  face.  After  two  or 
three  hours,  come  in,  and  pound  me  on  the  back 
three  times  to  bring  me  to  life.”  The  father  of 
the  boy  followed  his  instructions  to  the  letter. 
The  medicine  man  roused  himself  slowly,  and 
remarked :  “I  was  really  dead.  I  went  across 
to  the  western  side  of  the  mountains,  and  found 
your  boy  playing  with  all  the  little  dead  boys,  I 
called  him  back.”  The  boy  recovered  conscious¬ 
ness  and  became  quite  well  again. 

This  same  medicine  man  did  a  queer  thing.  A 
Shoshone  Indian  had  a  large  family,  of  which  the 
youngest  child,  a  girl,  was  very  precocious. 
When  only  two  or  three  months  old,  she  could 
not  only  run  around,  but  talk.  The  parents  spoke 
to  the  medicine  man  about  it.  “That  little  girl 
is  not  a  bit  like  other  children,”  he  said,  “And  do 
you  know  what  is  the  matter  with  her?  Why 
Ninimbeb  (the  little  devil  of  the  Shoshones,  of 
which  more  later)  has  taken  possession  of  her 
and  made  her  body  his  dwelling  place.  She  will 
bring  no  end  of  trouble  on  you  and  your  family. 
You  will  all  become  sick  and  die.  For  your  own 
sakes,  there  is  only  one  thing  you  can  do.  Take 
the  child  off  to  the  mountains  and  leave  her 
there.  When  her  body  dies,  Ninimbeb  will  come 
out  of  her. 

The  poor  parents  believed  all  this ;  so  with  sor- 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


29 


rowful  steps  they  started  one  day  for  the  moun¬ 
tains  with  the  little  child.  On  the  way  they  met 
a  man  who  was  part  Mexican  and  part  Indian, 
and  stopped  to  talk  to  him.  “Where  are  you 
going?’  ’he  inquired.  Then  they  told  him  their 
story.  He  was  furious,  and  swore  in  a  terrible 
manner.  “You  will  do  no  such  cruel  thing!”  said 
he.  “I  will  have  the  child  baptized  and  make  her 
one  of  my  own  family.”  The  Mexican  brought 
the  child  to  Mr.  Roberts  for  baptism,  for  he 
thought  that  ceremony  would  drive  out  the  evil 
spirit,  or  Ninimbeb.  Then,  although  he  had  sev¬ 
eral  children,  he  ran  the  risk  of  taking  her  into 
his  own  home.  The  child  lived  to  be  about  eight 
years  old. 

The  Sage  Hen  or  Hoo-ja,  is  the  Spirit  of  Medi¬ 
cine,  and  Hoo-ja-nik-ar  means  Sage  Hen  or  Sun 
Dance.  Once  upon  a  time  an  Indian,  who  was 
hunting,  shot  a  sage  hen.  She  did  not  move.  He 
shot  again ;  then  a  third  time ;  but  she  stood 
stockstill.  In  a  little  while  she  turned  around, 
looked  at  him  reproachfully,  and  said :  “Do  you 
not  know  that  it  is  impossible  to  kill  me?  I  am 
the  Spirit  of  Medicine.  Henceforth  you  will  be 
plagued  with  illnesses.”  The  young  Indian 
walked  sorrowfully  away. 

Sage  Hen  was  wandering  about  one  day  with 
her  little  ones,  when  Coyote  suddenly  ap¬ 
peared. 

“Well,  what  are  the  names  of  all  these  little 
sage  chickens?”  he  inquired. 


30 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


“Really,  it  is  none  of  your  business,”  replied 
the  Sage  Hen. 

Then  she  and  her  brood  ran  at  Coyote,  throw¬ 
ing  sand  into  his  eyes  and  all  over  him ;  in  fact 
they  teased  him  until  he  could  endure  it  no 
longer.  Blinded  with  the  sand  he  ran  away,  fell 
into  the  river,  and  was  drowned. 

The  Shoshones  have  a  great  fear  of  the  ground 
gopher,  an  animal  which  is  very  plentiful.  They 
think  it  may  give  them  the  spotted  fever;  and 
say  that  if  a  malicious  gopher  meets  one  of  them, 
it  stops  and  stares  at  him,  and,  so,  bewitches  him. 
In  a  few  days  the  Indian  sickens  and  dies  of  the 
disease.  It  kills  the  gophers  as  well,  hundreds 
dying  from  it  in  their  colonies. 

In  the  Bitter  Root  Valley,  Montana,  the 
spotted  fever  was  so  fatal  a  few  years  ago  that 
the  Board  of  Health  in  Washington  sent  scien¬ 
tists  there  to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  dis¬ 
ease.  They  discovered  that  the  breeding  place 
of  this  fever  was  in  the  ground  gopher;  just  as 
the  germ  of  the  pneumonia  plague  was  in  the  Si¬ 
berian  marmot  or  in  the  rat.  Sheepherders  and 
others  are  inoculated  with  the  fever  through 
woodticks.  These  have  already  bitten  the  dis¬ 
eased  gopher,  and,  in  their  turn,  bite  people  who 
happen  to  be  exposed  to  them  in  walking  through 
the  long  grass.  It  was  in  this  way  that  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Roberts  caught  the  disease  and  was  very  ill 
for  ten  weeks. 

The  Shoshones,  like  all  other  tribes  of  Indians, 


BISHOP  RANDALL  HOSPITAL,  LANDER,  WYO. 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


31 


are  peculiarly  susceptible  to  consumption  or  the 
White  Plague ;  also  to  eczema,  scrofula,  rheuma¬ 
tism,  and  trachoma;  but  on  the  whole,  their  phy¬ 
sical  condition  is  good,  and  is  much  improved 
under  civilized  living  conditions,  to  what  it  was 
when  the  experiment  was  first  tried.  In  the  ear¬ 
lier  days  there  was  difficulty  in  keeping  them 
alive ;  it  was  much  like  locking  up  a  wild  rabbit, 
as  Mr.  Roberts  puts  it.  Among  the  school  build¬ 
ings  is  a  small  log  house,  sexagon  in  shape,  but 
closely  resembling  a  large  wooden  tipi,  for  it  has 
an  extremely  sloping  roof  and  the  ends  of  poles 
protruding  at  the  top.  In  former  days  there  was 
a  hole  in  the  roof,  the  same  as  in  the  top  of  a 
tipi;  and  for  the  preservation  of  health,  a  camp 
fire  was  built  in  this  log  house.  The  little  In¬ 
dian  boys  and  girls  painted  their  faces  and 
danced  around  the  fire.  They  greatly  enjoyed 
the  sport,  and  it  seemed  to  improve  their  health. 

BURIALS 

When  a  man  was  dead,  he  was  painted  and  dec¬ 
orated  by  his  male  friends,  the  face  being  colored 
red.  The  squaws  then  wrapped  the  body  in  a 
new  blanket,  laid  it  on  a  bier,  and  carried  it  to 
the  mountains  or  burying  ground.  His  bead- 
work,  blankets,  and  other  belongings  were  put 
in  the  grave  with  him.  The  Shoshones  used  to 
be  buried  among  the  rocks,  in  a  sitting  position ; 
and  stones  and  brushwood  were  placed  all  over 
and  around  them.  Sometimes  the  bodies  were 


32 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


thrown  into  deep  canyons,  over  a  sheer  wall-like 
precipice  perhaps  a  thousand  feet  high. 

The  favorite  horses  of  those  who  died  were 
always  sacrificed.  They  were  led,  blindfolded,  to 
the  top  of  the  cliff  and  hurled  into  the  depths 
below.  Until  recently  the  horses  of  the  dead  were 
led  to  the  cemetery,  strangled  or  choked  to  death, 
then  laid  on  the  owner’s  grave.  These  horses 
knew  instinctively  that  they  were  going  to  be 
killed  and  would  squeal  and  neigh  in  a  piteous 
manner.  Mr.  Roberts,  in  course  of  time,  brought 
this  brutal  custom  to  an  end. 

Mrs.  Lodge,  a  full-blood  Shoshone  woman, 
told  me  about  her  brother  Edina,  or  Edward, 
who  died  some  years  ago.  He  owned  a  beautiful 
roan  race  horse.  At  the  funeral  this  horse  was 
painted  yellow  and  vermillion  and  decorated 
with  ribbons.  After  the  ceremonies  were  over, 
they  led  him  to  the  grave,  and  as  they  were 
throwing  him,  he  gave  a  frightened,  shrill,  pierc¬ 
ing  scream ;  nevertheless,  they  tied  him  down 
and  strangled  him  with  a  rope.  Mrs.  Lodge  said 
the  family  did  not  want  to  lose  such  a  fine  ani¬ 
mal  ;  but  when  her  brother,  with  his  dying 
breath,  whispered:  “You  will  let  me  have  my 
horse,  won’t  you?”  they  felt  obliged  to  make  the 
sacrifice. 

After  a  death  in  the  family,  the  near  relatives, 
both  men  and  women,  cut  their  hair  short  and 
gashed  themselves  with  knives,  sometimes  cut¬ 
ting  off  the  little  finger  at  the  first  joint.  This 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 


33 


mutilation  of  the  finger  was  done  to  save  the  lives 
of  their  own  children  or  relatives.  The  men  went 
off  to  the  mountains  for  days,  or  even  weeks,  to 
mourn  their  loss.  The  brother  of  the  man  that 
died  generally  appropriated  the  widow  orwidows, 
who  became  his  wife  or  wives.  The  children 
also  were  looked  upon  as  his  own.  Relationship 
among  the  Shoshones  did  not  appear  to  be  well- 
defined. 


OTHER  SUPERSTITIONS 

The  Shoshone  Indians  believed  that  the  cries  of 
the  coyote  when  the  moon  was  full,  meant  good 
luck.  Although  he  is  such  an  important  animal 
among  them,  they  do  not  mind  killing  one.  When 
a  child  was  joyous  at  the  first  thunder  in  the 
springtime,  it  was  a  sign  that  he  would  live  to 
old  age  and  have  great  honors  conferred  upon 
him. 

These  Indians  are  firm  believers  in  ghosts, 
fairies,  and  little  devils.  One  of  their  supersti¬ 
tions  is  in  a  personified  bad  luck  or  Ninimbeb. 
According  to  them,  he  is  an  evil  being  who  fol¬ 
lows  a  man  on  his  trail  through  life,  until  he 
finally  brings  destruction  upon  him.  Sometimes 
in  the  night  a  Shoshone,  in  terrible  fear  of  this 
little  creature,  will  get  it  into  his  head  that  Ni¬ 
nimbeb  is  after  him ;  so,  leaving  his  tent,  he 
wanders  off  into  the  mountains,  and,  seeking  out 
lonely  places  in  crevices  and  canyons,  endeavors 
to  hide  from  the  little  devil.  Then  he  sneaks  back 


34 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


with  light  tread  so  that  Ninimbeb  will  not  hear 
him. 

The  Shoshones  have  a  vivid  mental  picture  of 
Ninimbeb.  He  has  a  red  nose  and  is  short  and 
stocky,  moulded  much  after  the  figure  of  Santa 
Claus.  He  dresses  in  mountain  sheepskins  dec¬ 
orated  with  bright  colors,  and  carries  a  quiver  of 
invisible  arrows  with  which  he  wounds  his  vic¬ 
tims.  If  a  Shoshone  Indian  is  taken  sick,  or  his 
horse  goes  lame,  or  his  squaw  develops  a  poor 
heart  and  runs  away  with  another  Indian,  it  is 
all  the  result  of  being  smitten  with  an  invisible 
arrow  from  the  quiver  of  Ninimbeb,  the  Little 
Devil. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


DANCES  AND  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS 

HE  Shoshones  are  naturally  religious. 


Their  ceremonies  consist  chiefly  in  dances, 


of  which  the  animal  sun-dance  was  the 
most  important.  Those  who  were  to  take  part, 
from  thirty  to  fifty  in  number,  abstained  from 
meat  and  drink  for  three  or  four  days  preceding 
the  ceremony.  In  it  they  propitiated  and  offered 
thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit  for  any  happiness  or 
prosperity  they  enjoyed.  They  also  made  an  ap¬ 
peal  for  these  blessings  to  be  continued  and  for 
others  to  be  granted.  The  sun-dance  is  not  held 
now,  except  perhaps  for  a  few  hours;  being  for¬ 
bidden  by  the  Government. 

Besides  the  great  animal  sun  dance,  special 
dances  were  often  given.  It  was  usually  called 
for  by  some  member  of  the  tribe  who  was  said 
to  have  had  a  vision  from  the  Great  Spirit.  A 
crier  was  sent  out  to  proclaim  to  the  people  that 
it  was  time  for  them  to  go  to  the  mountains  to 
secure  the  center  pole,  as  well  as  the  evergreens, 
for  building  the  tipi  in  which  the  dance  was  to 
take  place. 


36 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


Then  the  great  pole  was  planted  in  a  central 
position,  and  on  it  was  fastened  the  head  of  a 
buffalo.  Shorter  poles  were  placed  around  it, 
and  joined  together,  as  well  as  to  the  center  pole, 
with  rafters.  The  entire  sides  and  roof,  except 
a  part  two  or  three  feet  wide  towards  the  sun, 
were  covered  with  brush  or  evergreens.  Inside 
this  great  tipi  were  built  small  recesses  or  resting 
places  to  which  the  dancers  could  retire  when  ex¬ 
hausted. 

The  performers  wore  very  little  clothing.  They 
formed  part  of  a  circle  around  the  center  pole 
and  each  dancer  was  provided  with  a  whistle. 
This  was  made  of  the  bone  of  a  crane’s  leg,  and 
decorated  at  one  end  with  eagle’s  down.  When 
it  was  time  for  the  ceremony  to  begin,  the  danc¬ 
ers  placed  the  whistles  in  their  mouths ;  and 
throwing  their  heads  back,  looked  towards  the 
head  of  the  buffalo  on  the  top  of  the  center  pole. 
Then  they  danced  forward  and  backward  to¬ 
wards  the  pole,  blowing  their  whistles  continu¬ 
ally. 

The  dance  could  begin  at  any  hour  of  the  day; 
but  all  formalities  ended  with  the  rising  of  the 
dog  star.  After  it  was  over,  those  who  took  part 
drank  plentifully  of  warm  water,  which  caused 
vomiting,  and  enabled  them  to  enjoy  to  the  full 
the  feast  which  followed. 

Among  the  Arapahoes  a  number  of  dogs  were 
killed,  and  their  flesh  was  considered  a  great 
delicacy.  The  Shoshones  called  them  “Dog 


DANCES  AND  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS 


37 


Eaters”.  They  themselves  did  not  touch  dog 
flesh ;  and  if  they  had  no  other  meat,  substi¬ 
tuted  vegetables.  It  was  the  custom,  also,  among 
the  Shoshones  to  have  the  intervals  during  the 
dance  filled  by  addresses  from  one  or  more  of  the 
chiefs,  who  proclaimed  the  great  deeds  and  many 
victories  of  these  Indians  over  their  enemies. 
With  the  Shoshones,  too,  the  dance  was  gener¬ 
ally  of  a  more  lively  character;  but  with  both 
tribes  its  main  purpose  was  to  call  down  a  bless¬ 
ing  upon,  and  aid  for,  all  the  people. 

THE  THANKSGIVING  DANCE 

The  Thanksgiving  Dance  used  to  take  place 
about  the  end  of  September  or  the  beginning  of 
October  each  year.  The  whole  tribe  was  brought 
togther  in  some  appointed  locality,  where  a  great 
hemlock  or  cedar  tree  was  set  in  the  ground  for 
the  occasion.  The  tribe,  men,  women,  and  chil¬ 
dren,  in  close  order,  formed  a  circle  about  this 
tree.  They  moved  very  slowly ;  some  of  them 
keeping  time  in  a  low  monotonous  chant 

Na-va-an-doy-ab ! 

Na-va-an-doy-ab ! 

Send  rain  on  the  mountains ! 

Send  rain  on  the  mountains ! 

repeated  a  thousand  times,  in  which  they 
thanked  the  Great  Father  for  his  bounty  and  for 
its  continuance.  Then  they  asked  him  to  look 
upon  the  mountains,  the  rivers,  and  the  trees, 
and  besought  him  to  send  rain  upon  them  and 


38 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


into  the  rivers.  They  also  entreated  him  to  bid 
the  earth  to  cease  swallowing  their  fathers, 
mothers,  and  children. 

THE  WOLF  DANCE 

The  Wolf  Dance  was  very  formal,  in  fact,  the 
highest  social  function  held  among  these  Indians, 
and  used  only  on  state  occasions ;  no  woman 
could  participate.  The  dancers  decked  them¬ 
selves  in  feathers  and  paint  and  wore  bustles. 
The  young  men  were  especially  gay  in  their  dec¬ 
orations,  and  even  powdered  their  hair.  It  was 
a  round  dance,  in  which  performers  hopped  about 
like  birds,  to  the  accompaniment  of  drums  and 
loud  chanting.  There  were  no  words ;  it  was  all 
soul ! 


THE  GHOST  DANCE 

In  the  autumn  of  1890,  the  mountains  about 
Wind  River  were  thick  with  smoke ;  in  fact  every 
place  in  the  neighborhood  was  filled  with  it,  on 
account  of  the  tremendous  forest  fires  which 
burned  and  raged  for  days  and  weeks  at  a  time. 
Mr.  Roberts  said  that  when  the  sun  shone,  it 
turned  this  smoke  into  a  blood-red  glow.  When 
the  moon  rose,  it,  too,  was  a  fiery  red.  The  In¬ 
dians  out  here  were  frightened ;  even  their  Chief, 
Washakie,  of  whom,  later  on,  you  will  read  a 
great  deal,  was  troubled  and  afraid.  Some  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Shoshones  held  a  big  meeting. 
They  declared  that  God,  the  Indian  Messiah, 
the  Deliverer,  was  actually  among  them.  He 


DANCES  AND  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS 


39 


was  to  accomplish  three  essential  things ;  the 
white  people  were,  all  at  one  time,  to  leave  the 
Indian  land ;  the  dead  Indians  were  to  come  to 
life  again  and  repeople  their  old  country ;  and  the 
buffalo,  the  Indians’  food,  were  to  return  in  num¬ 
bers  as  of  old. 

Washakie  of  the  Shoshones,  was  a  wise  man 
and  consulted  with  Mr.  Roberts.  The  latter  told 
the  Chief  that  God  was  everywhere,  if  the  people 
would  only  see  Him  and  believe.  The  cry  went 
forth,  however,  that  the  Messiah  was  come.  As 
the  message  spread  from  tribe  to  tribe,  the  ex¬ 
citement  was  so  great  that  a  series  of  outbreaks 
was  threatened  among  the  Arapahoes,  the  Sho¬ 
shones,  the  Sioux,  and,  in  fact,  among  all  the  In¬ 
dians  on  the  Western  Reservations.  This  terrible 
fear,  nothing  but  a  false  alarm,  was  known 
throughout  the  United  States  as  the  “Messiah 
Craze”.  The  date  was  fixed  by  prophets  or  mes¬ 
sengers.  Certain  of  them  went  all  the  way  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean  to  meet  Christ,  for  He  was  to  ap¬ 
pear  from  that  direction.  This  great  ceremony, 
held  in  expectation  of  His  coming,  was  called  by 
the  Indians  the  Messiah  Dance;  by  the  white 
people,  the  Ghost  Dance.  Women  as  well  as 
men  participated.  They  formed  two  lines,  the 
women  dancing  on  one  side,  the  men  on  the 
other.  And  to  aid  the  coming  of  this  Messiah, 
the  Indians  were  to  dance  night  and  day  till  He 
appeared.  It  was  not  a  war  dance,  then,  but  an 
invocation  to  the  Messiah  for  aid,  comfort,  and 


40 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


protection.  The  Indians  continued  for  a  long 
time  to  carry  on  this  orgie,  but  without  result. 
They  finally  consulted  with  the  medicine  men, 
and  were  told  that  they  did  not  dance  hard 
enough !  An  especially  wise  one  also  proclaimed 
that  they  must  kill  off  all  their  dogs  or  else  the 
spirits  of  the  dead  Indians  would  not  return. 
They  immediately  set  to  work  and  slew  their 
faithful  animals,  but,  of  course,  all  to  no  purpose. 
After  a  time  the  craze  died  out  with  the  longings 
of  the  Indians  unfulfilled. 

RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS 

The  Shoshones  believe  that  the  chickadee  dis¬ 
covered  the  world ;  and  it  is  always  the  harbinger 
of  severe  snow  storms.  To  kill  one  is  very  bad 
luck. 

The  Creator  of  the  world  is  Dam-ap-wa,  or 
Our  Father-God.  God  pulled  out  the  upper  teeth 
of  the  elk  because  the  elk  were  meant  to  be  eaten 
by  the  Indians,  and  not  the  Indians  by  the  elk. 

As  the  jackal  is  a  sacred  animal  among  the 
Hindus,  so  was  the  great  Coyote  considered  the 
father  of  the  Shoshones.  He  was  shy,  secretive, 
troublesome;  and  was  named  Bea-idg-apwa,  or 
Great  lies’  father,  or  Father  of  lies.  He  is  very  im¬ 
portant  now,  though  they  do  not  mind  kill¬ 
ing  one.  In  the  early  days  of  the  world,  he 
was  called  to  account  for  something  by  the 
Creator.  Instead  of  answering  respectfully, 
Coyote  was  insolent  to  him.  He  threw  his 
voice,  as  a  ventriloquist  does,  from  one  place 


INDIAN  CEMETERY,  WIND  RIVER,  WYO. 


DANCES  AND  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS 


41 


to  another.  He  continued  being  disrespectful, 
so  our  Father  reproved  him  again.  He  told  Big 
Coyote  he  would  punish  him  for  his  insolence  by 
causing  all  his  descendants  to  be  mortal.  On 
hearing  this,  Great  Coyote  went  yelping  away. 

The  story  of  the  Arapahoes  about  ancient 
times  is  somewhat  different.  They  said  that  the 
whole  world,  except  the  topmost  peak  of  a  very 
high  mountain,  was  covered  by  the  waters  of  a 
great  flood.  On  it  sat  the  first  Arapahoe,  weep¬ 
ing.  Looking  up,  he  saw  the  Unknown  One  on 
High  coming  to  him,  and  walking  upon  the  face 
of  the  waters.  “Why  do  you  weep?’  said  he  to 
the  Arapahoe.  “Because  I  am  lonely,”  replied 
the  man,  “I  have  no  country  to  live  in.”  The 
Unknown  One  on  High  commanded  the  dove  to 
go  in  search  of  a  country  for  the  Arapahoe,  and 
he  went  away  immediately.  After  awhile  the 
dove  returned  and  reported  that  the  waters  were 
over  all  things.  Just  then  a  turtle  swam  by.  The 
Unknown  One  on  High  commanded  the  turtle  to 
go  in  search  of  a  country  for  the  Arapahoe.  The 
turtle  at  once  dived  down  into  the  waters.  After 
some  time  it  returned  with  a  lump  of  mud  in  its 
mouth,  and  reported  that  under  the  water  could 
be  found  a  country.  The  Unknown  One  on  High 
then  commanded  the  waters  to  roll  away  into 
the  distant  seas,  and  told  the  dry  land  to  arise. 
Immediately,  before  the  Arapahoe's  view,  a  beau¬ 
tiful  country  appeared,  with  wooded  mountains 
and  green  valleys  and  shining  rivers.  The  Un- 


42 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


known  One  on  High  turned  to  the  Arapahoe  and 
said :  “This  is  your  country ;  to  you  and  your  de¬ 
scendants  I  give  it  forever.” 

The  Unknown  One  on  High  and  the  Arapahoe 
then  went  walking  together  among  the  trees,  un¬ 
til  they  came  to  a  deep  lake  beautifully  shaded. 
Near  it,  they  sat  and  conversed.  During  the  con¬ 
versation,  the  Unknown  One  on  High  picked  up 
some  pebbles  and  threw  them  into  the  lake.  The 
Arapahoe,  seeing  them  sink  down  into  the  depths, 
cried  out  in  great  distress.  “O,  must  my  children 
die?  Can  they  not  be  like  this?”  And  he  threw 
a  stick  into  the  lake,  which  floated  on  the  sur¬ 
face  of  the  water.  The  Unknown  One  on  High 
shook  his  head.  “No,”  he  replied,  “they  would  be 
too  numerous.”  Seeing  the  anxiety  of  the  Arap¬ 
ahoe,  he  presented  him  with  a  pipe  to  comfort 
him,  and  said :  “This  sacred  pipe  I  give  to  you. 
Guard  it  carefully.  Your  children  gazing  on  this 
pipe  when  they  die  will  go  straight  to  our  home. 
When  this  pipe,  in  time,  wastes  away,  their  bodies 
will  rise  from  the  grave.  Fight  bravely  your  ene¬ 
mies;  be  good  to  your  friends.  Very  soon,  I  am 
going  away ;  but  I  will  make  other  tribes  around 
you  first.  After  that  I  will  cross  the  ocean  and 
make  white  men,  a  great  many  of  them.  Fare¬ 
well.” 

According  to  the  Arapahoes,  this  portion  of  the 
world — Wyoming — is  the  center  of  the  earth. 
If  it  had  not  been  for  them  there  would  have 
been  no  world.  The  earth  was  made  especially 


DANCES  AND  RELIGIOUS  BELIEFS 


43 


for  them.  They  call  themselves  the  children  of 
God. 

The  Arapahoes  are  a  Semitic  people.  Their 
religion  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment.  They  believed  in  the  flood,  also  in  sacri¬ 
fices  which  they  offered  in  high  places  on  these 
Western  hills.  Like  the  Shoshones,  they  also 
looked  for  a  deliverer  or  Saviour. 

The  word  in  Arapahoe  for  the  Unknown  One 
on  High  is  He-ja-va-ne-athan,  so  the  Saviour  is 
the  same  word,  only  with  He-an,  His  Son,  added. 
Vedah-than-Vetan  stands  for  Holy  Spirit  or 
Shade,  with  the  same  meaning  as  in  the  Iliad. 
Vetan  means  magic,  something  that  has  spiritual 
power;  but  the  proper  term  in  the  Arapahoe  for 
the  Holy  Ghost  or  Spirit  is  Vetan  Nan-wan- 
than-woo. 

The  Arapahoe  says  in  his  Lord’s  Prayer :  Thy 
chieftainship  come  on  earth  as  it  is  in  Hi-ya-in ; 
or,  Heaven  and  our  home.”  Then  he  goes  on  to 
say :  “Put  our  faults  behind  Thee,  as  we  put,  or 
throw  away,  the  faults  of  others  from  us.” 

The  Shoshones  believe  in  the  transmigration  of 
souls,  and  practise  suttee.  Among  them  the 
spirit,  or  personality  (moo-goo-wa)  is  supposed 
to  be  lodged  between  the  eyes.  When  a  Sho¬ 
shone  dies,  his  spirit  or  moo-goo-wa  still  exists 
in  something  on  earth  which  is  wandering  about 
outside  the  Father’s  home  (Dam-Apwa  han-gan, 
our  Father,  His  Abode,  or  Heaven),  crying  for 
pity  until  he  is  let  in.  (Their  term  for  the  Saviour 


44 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


is  Dam-Ap-wa  Andwa,  Our  Father’s  Son.)  In 
his  Lord’s  Prayer,  the  Shoshone  says :  “Do  not 
think  meanly  about,  or  entertain  malicious 
thoughts  of  us,  as  we  do  not  think  meanly  about, 
or  entertain  malicious  thoughts  of  those  who  hurt 
us.” 

Besides  Sacajawea,  of  whose  heroism  we  have 
already  learned,  another  outstanding  Shoshone  is 
the  catechist  Moo-yah-vo,  who  is  now  about 
sixty-five  years  of  age.  Being  thoroughly  trained 
by  Mr.  Roberts,  he  preaches  orthodox  Christian 
doctrine.  Last  Decoration  Day  he  made  an  ad¬ 
dress  in  his  own  language,  to  the  Indians  assem¬ 
bled  in  the  burying  ground  at  Wind  River.  “You 
think”,  said  he,  “that  a  Pai-Ute  Indian  is  coming 
who  calls  himself  the  Messiah.  He  says  he  can 
heal  the  sick  and  raise  the  dead.  He  is  the  same 
man  who  started  the  Messiah  craze  nearly  thirty- 
five  years  ago.  No  Indian  can  raise  the  dead. 
Our  Father’s  Son,  only,  can  raise  the  dead:  and 
He  will,  at  the  last  Great  Day,  when  He  comes 
again  to  judge  the  world.” 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CEMETERY  AT  WIND  RIVER 

ONE  morning  six  of  the  Indian  girls  joined 
me  in  my  walk,  and  we  visited  the  Bury¬ 
ing  Ground.  The  sun  was  glorious,  fairly^ 
dancing  in  the  turquoise  sky ;  the  mountains  were 
purple  and  brown  as  they  faded  into  the  green 
and  yellow  of  the  fields.  But  how  bare  and  bleak 
and  chill  was  the  cemetery !  It  is  a  tract  of  sev¬ 
eral  acres  fenced  in  with  strong  cedar  posts  and 
twisted  barb  wire.  The  innumerable  graves  were 
piled  high  with  light  brown  earth  and  stones. 
Poles  hung  with  bunches  of  feathers  marked  the 
graves  of  two  Indian  Chiefs.  Many  of  the  graves 
were  indicated  by  large  weather-stained  wooden 
crosses.  Others  were  hemmed  in  completely 
with  iron  bedsteads  or  by  wicket  fences. 

Just  outside  of  one  of  these,  and  beyond  the 
pale  of  her  family,  was  the  grave  of  a  poor  young 
woman  a  little  over  twenty,  who  was  recently 
murdered.  Some  think  that  her  husband  com¬ 
mitted  the  fatal  deed,  for  the  same  night  he  shot 
and  killed  himself.  The  record  of  his  dying  by 
his  own  hand  is  engraven  on  the  headstone.  But 
a  young  man  is  now  in  jail  suspected  of  the  mur- 


46 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


der  of  the  woman.  The  three  little  children  are 
cared  for  by  the  poor  old  grandmother. 

Here  was  the  grave  of  an  Indian  policeman 
who  went  off  to  the  mountains  recently  never 
to  return.  Some  say  he  lost  his  life  in  fighting 
fires ;  but  it  was  evident,  when  his  body  was  re¬ 
covered  four  days  afterwards,  that  he  shot  him¬ 
self  for  some  unknown  reason. 

This  cemetery  is  especially  interesting  on  ac¬ 
count  of  being  the  resting  place  of  Sacajawea; 
but  only  a  slight  slab  marks  her  grave.  She  was 
buried  by  Mr.  Roberts  on  April  9,  1884.  While 
attending  the  funeral  of  one  of  Chief  Washakie’s 
grandsons,  during  the  winter  of  1906,  Mr.  Rob¬ 
erts  heard  a  loud  wailing,  as  is  the  Shoshone 
custom,  for  “they  mourn  with  a  very  great  and 
sore  lamentation.”  He  looked  up  and  saw  one 
of  Sacajawea’s  grand-daughters  standing  over 
her  grave,  giving  way  to  her  grief  in  this  man¬ 
ner. 

And  here,  too,  are  buried  Mrs.  Maggie  Rich¬ 
ards  and  Mrs.  Hall,  her  niece,  two  very  fine 
women  and  pioneer  white  settlers.  They  lived 
in  a  log  cabin  and  cooked  for  the  soldiers  at  Fort 
Washakie.  During  the  uprising  of  the  enemies 
of  the  Shoshones  they  were  brutally  murdered  in 
their  home  by  a  raiding  band  of  Sioux  Indians. 
Bishop  Thomas,  in  his  thoughtfulness,  has  this 
year  erected  a  granite  monument  to  their 
memory. 

The  children  who  accompanied  me  were  most 


THE  CEMETERY  AT  WIND  RIVER 


47 


valuable  companions,  owing  to  their  interest  and 
the  amount  of  information  they  furnished.  I 
learned  from  them  that  all  the  Shoshone  tribe 
were  related  and  connected,  the  latter  many  times 
over.  Each  one  could  point  out  either  her  father’s 
stepson’s  aunt’s  grave,  or  that  of  her  sister’s 
daughter’s  son,  or  her  grandfather’s  aunt’s  hus¬ 
band’s  nephew,  or  her  uncle’s  widow’s  nephew’s 
wife’s  son,  or  her  great  aunt’s  sister’s  counsin’s 
brother’s  half-sister,  or  his  mother’s  first  hus¬ 
band’s  brother’s  second  wife’s  son’s  daughter’s 
child.  This  may  sound  foolish  and  exaggerated, 
but  it  is  neither.  I  endeavored  for  a  while  to  keep 
track  of  the  relationships,  but  as  they  accumula¬ 
ted,  they  seemed  to  get  a  little  beyond  me.  I  was 
never  at  all  keen  at  working  out  or  unraveling 
such  combinations,  and  was  filled  with  astonish¬ 
ment  upon  finding  how  glibly  these  Shoshone 
girls  could  roll  them  off.  I  was  proud  of  their 
capacity  in  this  direction  and  pronounced  them 
to  have  brains  of  a  remarkable  calibre. 

On  Decoration  Day,  the  whole  of  the  dreary 
cemetery,  a  tangle  of  rank  grass  and  briers  wher¬ 
ever  they  can  gain  a  rooting,  blossoms  out  into 
a  flower  garden.  This  holiday  is  the  Easter,  the 
gala  day,  of  the  Shoshones.  Not  a  grave  is  neg¬ 
lected  ;  and  the  crude,  harsh  aspect  of  it  all  is 
softened,  for  once  during  the  year,  into  a  thing  of 
beauty — a  veritable  God’s  acre. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  SHOSHONES 


HE  Shoshones  are  short  and  stocky,  with 


dark  complexion,  large  mouths,  square 


jaws,  prominent  cheek  bones,  and  heavy 


noses. 


They  are  a  simple  people,  very  near  to  nature. 
They  often  start  out  on  horseback  for  a  long 
journey  in  the  pouring  rain,  when  there  is  no  sign 
of  the  storm  abating.  Mr.  Roberts  said  he  once 
saw  a  large  party  of  them  start  en  route  for 
Utah  in  a  deluge  of  rain.  (They  can  forecast  the 
weather  with  great  accuracy.)  Ten  minutes  later 
the  sun  was  shining.  They  are  a  happy-go-lucky 
people,  more  particularly  the  men,  with  no 
thought  for  the  morrow,  and  will  even  take  death 
with  a  laugh. 

These  Indians  are  easily  offended,  and  years 
after  suffering  an  injury  or  a  slight,  even  a  fan¬ 
cied  one,  will  resent  it  in  some  way.  If  they 
do  not  trouble  the  actual  offender  himself,  they 
will  take  vengeance  on  his  horse  or  dog  or  on 
something  that  belongs  to  him. 

Among  the  women,  calm  resignation  is  usually 
found,  a  stoical  obedience  to  their  condition  of 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  SHOSHONES  49 


servitude.  This  was  evident  when  Captain  Meri¬ 
wether  Lewis,  with  a  few  other  white  men,  while 
making  a  little  exploring  detour  on  his  great 
western  journey,  surprised  the  Shoshones  as  he 
came  through  the  pass  approaching  their  valley.* 
No  cry  nor  sound  passed  the  lips  of  the  women ; 
they  sat  with  bowed  heads,  expecting  death,  and 
waiting  for  the  fatal  blow.  Beside  her  great 
depth  of  feeling,  and  her  almost  wild  demonstra¬ 
tiveness  exhibited  on  several  occasions,  all  this 
stoicism  was  evident  in  Sacajawea,  too,  in  times 
of  danger  and  distress. 

When  Mr.  Roberts  superintended  the  Agency 
School,  he  found  that  one  of  the  boys  was  espe¬ 
cially  mischievous.  He  took  great  delight  in 
shooting  the  little  pigs  about  the  place,  and  also 
went  so  far  as  to  steal  some  money  from  the 
matron.  One  day  it  was  reported  to  the  Super¬ 
intendent  that  the  same  little  fellow  had  saturated 
a  quantity  of  material  with  coal  oil  with  the  in¬ 
tention  of  setting  fire  to  the  school.  Mr.  Roberts 
naturally  kept  him  in  for  some  time  under  the 
guard  of  another  boy  detailed  for  that  purpose 
and  by  whom  he  was  marched  to  meals.  The 
lad’s  father  was  in  a  fury,  and  came  to  the  school 
with  a  rifle  to  shoot  Mr.  Roberts.  The  latter 
walked  up  to  the  irate  Indian  and  said:  “You 
are  very  angry.  Go  back  home.”  Without  a  word 
he  immediately  left  the  building.  The  lad  turned 
out  well  and  is  now  a  communicant  of  the  Church. 


♦Journals,  Vol.  I,  p.  387. 


50 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


One  of  the  girls  in  the  same  school,  a  fine, 
genuine,  bouncing  creature,  was  disobedient  to 
the  matron.  The  latter  sent  at  once  for  the  police¬ 
man  to  watch  the  children  a  half  day  from  her 
seat.  While  he  was  at  his  post,  the  offender,  who 
was  not  allowed  to  go  out  during  recess,  started 
for  the  door,  but  was  intercepted  by  the  tempo¬ 
rary  guard.  This  policeman  was  stout,  could 
boast  of  six  feet  in  height,  and  was  heavily  de¬ 
veloped  as  to  brawn  and  muscle.  The  culprit,  be¬ 
ing  very  angry  at  his  interference,  seized  this  ob¬ 
jectionable  (to  her)  individual  around  the  waist, 
threw  him  down,  and  sat  on  him !  When  Mr. 
Roberts  was  walking  through  the  hall  a  long 
time  afterward,  he  found  the  policeman  still 
prostrate,  and  the  girl  seated  on  his  chest !  He 
told  her  to  get  up  without  delay,  and  after  some 
reproving,  rebuking,  and  exhorting,  bade  her  go 
home,  for  she  was  too  unmanageable.  Mr.  Rob¬ 
erts  said  he  admired  this  girl  in  spite  of  her 
forwardness  and  impulsiveness.  She  married  at 
fifteen,  and  died  very  young,  while  on  a  visit  to 
Montana.  She  left  a  baby  daughter  who  grew 
up  to  be  fine,  handsome  young  woman,  but  only 
to  succumb  to  tuberculosis. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  above  everything  else, 
the  Shoshones  love  their  freedom.  They  do  not 
like  to  be  caught  in  the  Church,  or  in  any  other 
way.  Someone  will  say  to  one  of  them:  “You 
are  baptized?”  “Yes.”  “You  go  to  the  Holy 
Communion?”  “Yes.”  “Why,  then,  you  belong 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  SHOSHONES  51 


to  the  Church ?”  “No,  I  don’t!  I  wander  about 
free.  I  don’t  belong  to  anything.  I  am  just  a 
Shoshone !” 

Ka-shoon-banah,  I  don’t  know;  or  ka-hinne 
shoon  banah,  He  knows  nothing,  are  typical 
phrases  of  the  Shoshones.  Sometimes  if  you  ask 
one  his  name,  he  would  be  apt  to  reply :  “I  don’t 
know;  ask  them!”  It  is  characteristic  of  these 
Indians  to  inquire:  “Where  are  you  going?” 

As  far  as  the  white  people  are  concerned,  the 
reputation  of  the  Shoshones  for  morality  is 
good ;  but  there  are  several  polygamists  with 
two  or  three  wives  each.  The  squaw  does  not 
readily  give  up  the  former  modes  of  living.  She 
is  determined  to  travel  in  the  trodden  paths  as 
long  as  possible.  The  old  people  have  little  in¬ 
terest  in  the  education  of  their  children. 

Many  of  the  tribe  are  able  to  talk  well  when 
they  can  be  induced  to  speak  English,  to  which 
they  all  show  a  great  aversion.  Their  pro¬ 
nunciation  is  excellent.  They  are  fair  pupils,  for 
their  general  mental  capacity  is  good.  The  little 
ones  at  first  did  not  like  school  at  all,  and  ab¬ 
sented  themselves  whenever  they  had  a  chance. 

When  their  school  life  is  finished,  they  paint 
their  faces  and  wear  the  blanket  and  act  in  the 
same  way  as  the  other  members  of  their  tribe. 
But  the  principal  reason  that  so  many  of  the  In¬ 
dians  go  back  to  their  paint  and  blanket  after 
they  become  civilized,  is  that  they  are  almost 
compelled  to  do  it.  They  remain  on  the  prairies 


52 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


and  among  the  mountains ;  and  when  they  fall  in 
again  with  their  relations  and  former  friends,  they 
feel  obliged  to  resume  their  old  customs  or  else 
be  subjected  to  ridicule;  and  being  a  proud 
people,  they  are  easily  humiliated. 

The  Shoshones,  in  this  beautiful  land  which 
they  made  their  own,  were  blessed  in  having 
rich  soil ;  but  with  it  were  the  evils  of  early  and 
late  frosts,  and  locust  plagues.  Then  their  heredi¬ 
tary  enemies,  the  Sioux,  the  Cheyennes,  the  Arap- 
ahoes,  and  the  Crows,  were  ever  on  the  watch 
for  them.  They  dared  not  wander  over  the  plains, 
as  they  were  wont,  to  hunt  for  buffalo,  for  fear  of 
an  attack  from  any  or  all  of  these  tribes,  and  they 
had  great  difficulty  in  maintaining  a  foothold 
against  them.  These  formidable  enemies,  and 
the  locusts  or  grasshoppers  which,  year  after 
year,  destroyed  their  crops,  kept  them,  which  is 
not  surprising,  from  making  much  progress 
towards  civilization.  Sometimes  all  they  had  to 
subsist  upon  for  weeks  were  these  grasshoppers 
which  they  caught  and  dried. 

Still  the  Shoshones  exhibit  considerable  pro¬ 
gress  in  agriculture,  especially  considering  the 
short  time  since  they  were  in  an  absolute  state  of 
barbarism.  The  local  Church  schools  and  Gov¬ 
ernment  schools  have  taught  them  to  farm  well. 
Many  of  those  who  return  from  eastern  schools 
are  as  unprepared  to  make  a  living  as  those  who 
have  never  been  educated ;  and  they,  too,  gener¬ 
ally  have  returned  to  their  blanket  and  paint. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  SHOSHONES  53 


One  reason  for  it  was  that  they  were  taught 
trades.  An  Arapahoe  came  back  to  his  tribe  as 
a  tailor.  Of  what  use  was  a  tailor  among  the 
blanketed  Arapahoes?  Another  was  a  tinsmith. 
In  their  small,  low  houses  of  logs  chinked  with 
adobe,  there  is  no  occasion  for  tinsmithing.  Read¬ 
ing,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  farming,  are  all  they 
need.  Sheep  herders  require  no  special  training. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CHIEF  WASHAKIE 

HE  friends  of  the  Shoshone  Indians  are  the 


Utes,  the  Comanches,  and  the  Flatheads. 


With  the  last  tribe  they  have  intermar¬ 
ried.  Washakie,  their  renowned  chief,  was  in  part 
a  Flathead,  on  his  father’s  side.  His  mother  was 
a  Shoshone. 

Washakie,  who  was  born  in  1798  and  died  in 
1900,  was  the  chief  of  the  eastern  band  of  the 
Shoshones.  He  was  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
of  all  the  North  American  Chiefs,  and  the  sworn 
friend  of  the  white  people.  His  name  is  derived 
from  wus-sik-he,  a  raw-hide  rattle.  The  army 
officers  stationed  at  the  Agency  during  his  time 
were  unable  to  pronounce  this  word  correctly,  the 
nearest  they  could  come  to  it  being  Washakie. 
He  rose  to  the  chieftainship  of  his  tribe  through 
his  natural  qualities  as  a  leader.  He  was  always 
loyal  to  the  Government,  and,  with  his  warriors, 
often  rendered  valuable  aid  to  the  United  States 
troops  in  repelling  the  attacks  of  hostile  tribes. 
Fort  Washakie,  the  headquarters  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  troops  stationed  on  Wind  River  Reserva¬ 
tion,  in  what  was  then  Wyoming  Territory,  to 
quell  the  uprising  of  hostile  tribes,  was  named  in 


Photograph  by 


Sproul,  Lander,  Wyo. 


CHIEF  WASHAKIE 


CHIEF  WASHAKIE 


55 


honor  of  the  Shoshone  Chief ;  also  the  high  peaks 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains  near  the  Agency,  and 
the  Sulphur  Springs,  a  part  of  the  Reservation. 
These  springs  are  entirely  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Indian  Department,  and  managed  by  In¬ 
dians.  Washakie  was  once  asked  if  he  wanted 
these  Springs  under  the  management  of  the  War 
Department.  “No,”  replied  the  Chief  very  de¬ 
cidedly.  “They  are  for  the  poor  as  well  as  the 
rich,  for  the  humble  as  well  as  the  influential.” 

It  was  during  the  latter  part  of  Washakie’s 
chieftainship  that  the  hereditary  enemies  of  the 
Shoshones,  the  Sioux,  the  Comanches,  and  the 
Crows  were  wandering  about  in  this  region  seek¬ 
ing  whom  they  might  devour.  The  garrison  at 
the  fort  consisted  of  a  troop  of  the  First  Cavalry 
and  a  company  of  the  Seventh  Infantry.  The 
soldiers  were  busy  protecting  the  interests  of  the 
Government  and  of  the  settlers  attracted  to  the 
opening  of  a  new  country.  Among  these  settlers, 
but  rather  involuntary  ones,  were  two  eastern 
women,  a  Mrs.  Maggie  Richards  and  her  niece, 
Mrs.  Hall,  both  of  whom  have  been  mentioned 
before.  They  were  on  their  way  across  the  Con¬ 
tinent  to  join  Mr.  Richards  in  California,  but  be¬ 
came  stranded  in  Wyoming  Territory  by  the  ap¬ 
proaching  winter  and  lack  of  facilities  for  their 
further  transportation.  Being  very  adaptable 
they  made  themselves  at  home  in  a  log  cabin,  and 
cooked  for  the  soldiers.  A  raiding  band  of  Sioux 
were  camping  in  the  neighborhood  and  bent  on 


56 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


mischief.  One  morning  a  party  of  them  moun¬ 
ted  their  horses,  but  in  a  peculiar  manner,  as  was 
sometimes  their  wont.  With  their  arms  around 
the  necks  of  the  animals,  and  their  toes  clinging 
to  the  horses’  backs,  such  a  troop  of  cavalry  in 
a  rapid  approach  on  a  house  or  village  presented 
the  appearance  of  a  herd  of  riderless  horses  on 
a  gallop.  In  this  manner  did  the  Indians  draw 
near  and  surround  the  cabin  of  the  two  unprotec¬ 
ted  women.  With  wild  war-whoops  they  rushed 
upon  it.  The  cabin  had  no  windows,  only  a 
door.  This  was  soon  demolished,  and  the  enemy 
poured  in.  The  younger  woman,  paralyzed  with 
terror  at  the  blood  curdling  sounds  and  the  hor¬ 
ror  of  the  invasion,  crouched  in  a  corner  and  died. 
Mrs.  Richards,  when  she  realized  what  it  meant, 
seized  a  weapon  and  went  forward  bravely  to 
meet  the  foe.  She  was  shot  through  and  through 
with  bullets  and  arrows,  and  hacked  with  a  toma¬ 
hawk.  A  suitable  and  substantial  monument 
now  marks  their  place  of  burial  in  the  Indian 
cemetery  near  the  Shoshone  School,  with  the 
following  inscription  on  an  inserted  brass  tablet : 

Sacred  to  the  Memory  of 
Mrs.  Maggie  Richards 
and 

Mrs.  Hall. 

Pioneer  White  Settlers, 

Killed  July  23rd,  A.D.  1873. 

By  a  Raiding  Band  of  Hostile  Sioux  Indians, 

In  Their  Ranch  House  on  the  Site  of 
The  Present  City  of  Lander. 

This  memorial  is  placed  here  by 
Bishop  Thomas  of  Wyoming  and 
Other  Friends,  A.D.  1922. 


CROWHEART  BUTTE,  SHOSHONE  RESERVATION 

(Where  Chief  Washakie  killed  the  Crow  chief  in  battle  and 

afterward  ate  his  heart.) 


CHIEF  WASHAKIE 


57 


It  is  said  that  Washakie  and  his  men  had  a 
fierce  battle  with  invading  Crow  Indians  on  a  hill 
on  the  Wind  River  Reservation,  which  has  ever 
since  been  called  Crow  Butte.  Here  he  killed 
the  chief  of  the  Crows,  cut  out  his  heart,  ate  part 
of  it,  and  skewered  the  other  portion  on  the  end  of 
a  pole  which  he  stuck  in  the  ground.  The  Crows 
are  said  to  have  had  fortifications  around  their 
camping  places;  and  it  is  reported  of  Washakie 
that  as  he  was  looking  through  an  aperture  in  one 
of  these  fortifications,  an  arrow  came  through 
and  struck  him  on  the  face.  The  mark  always  re¬ 
mained  ;  and  he  was  afterward  called  by  the 
enemy  the  Snake  Chief  with  the  scar  on  his  face. 

During  these  troublous  times  on  the  Reserva¬ 
tion,  Mr.  Roberts  well  remembers  the  narrow 
escape  of  an  Indian  boy,  who  is  now  Canon  Sher¬ 
man  Coolidge,  of  St.  John’s  Cathedral,  Denver. 
His  father  was  an  Arapahoe  named  Vashait,  or 
Big  Heart.  Big  Heart  was  living  in  the  camp  of 
his  own  people,  but  rashly  moved  his  tent  one 
night  to  a  place  by  itself.  He  was  killed  by  an 
unknown  enemy.  The  Indian  name  of  his  boy 
was  He-des-tu-ah,  which  means  Over-the-Top, 
or  Surface.  When  he  was  nine  years  old,  he, 
with  other  Arapahoes,  was  captured  by  the  Sho¬ 
shones.  They  wanted  to  kill  him.  They  said : 
“He  is  big  enough;  he  has  a  scalp  lock;  shoot 
him !”  Lieutenant  Larabie,  afterwards  General 
Larabie,  suddenly  appeared  on  the  scene.  He 
prevented  the  Shoshones  from  killing  the  boy, 


58 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


and  carried  him  away  to  a  place  of  safety.  He 
was  adopted  by  a  Captain  Coolidge  and  educated 
at  Shattuck  School,  Faribault.  Captain  Cool¬ 
idge,  while  talking  one  day  with  young  Sherman, 
told  him  that  his  ancestors  came  over  in  the 
Mayflower.  ‘‘Oh,  that’s  nothing,”  replied  the 
Indian ;  ‘‘mine  were  on  the  reception  committee !” 

A  woman  in  the  East  once  asked  Sherman 
Coolidge  whether  the  Indians  to  whom  he  be¬ 
longed  were  cultured  or  well  read.  “My  peo¬ 
ple  !”  replied  he,  “Why,  they  are  the  best  red  men 
in  the  world !” 

Long  years  after  he  left  the  Reservation,  Mr. 
Coolidge  returned  to  visit  his  mother.  She  had 
not  seen  him  since  he  was  a  little  boy.  She  was 
lame  and  nearly  blind,  but  seemed  to  know  in¬ 
tuitively  that  he  was  somewhere  near.  She  put 
up  her  hand  to  shade  her  eyes,  and  saw  him  ap¬ 
proaching.  He  was  then  in  clerical  clothes,  but 
she  recognized  him  as  her  son  and  rushed  into 
his  arms. 

There  were  long  days,  too,  when  the  life  of 
Mr.  Roberts  was  threatened.  In  1890,  when 
parts  of  the  Wind  River  Reservation  were 
thrown  open  for  sale  to  white  men,  some  of  the 
Indians  resented  it,  and  laid  in  wait  for  him 
on  his  return  from  officiating  at  a  country  fu¬ 
neral.  His  knowledge  of  their  ways  caused  him 
intuitively  to  take  another  route  home,  and  by 
so  doing  he  escaped  being  murdered.  Like  the 


CHIEF  WASHAKIE 


59 


Wise  Men  of  old,  he  returned  to  his  own  country 
another  way. 

He  said  that  he  and  others  would  look  out  of 
their  doors  of  a  morning,  fully  expecting  to  see 
a  band  of  Indians  coming  to  kill  them. 

Mr.  Roberts  was  a  personal  friend  of  Chief 
Washakie,  and  had  many  visits  and  conversa¬ 
tions  with  him.  He  recalls  the  Chief  as  an  in¬ 
telligent,  honest  man,  with  a  good  command  of 
English,  which  language  he  generally  refused 
to  speak  as  he  felt  conscious  of  too  many  errors 
in  his  attempts.  It  was  through  Mr.  Roberts 
that  Washakie  gave  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  farm  land  to  the  school. 

But  he  inherited  the  traits  of  his  ancestors  on 
both  sides ;  the  murderous  tendencies  of  the  Arap- 
ahoes  and  the  impulsiveness,  impatience,  and 
resentfulness  of  the  Shoshones. 

One  morning  he  went  off  early,  and  when  he 
returned  at  evening  time  he  found  that  his  wife 
had  removed  her  tent.  Washakie  was  furious. 
“Don't  you  know  how  fatal  it  is  to  separate 
tents  these  days?"  said  he.  “Why,  there  is  an 
enemy  lurking  behind  every  tree  and  bush  and 
rock.  On  no  account  do  it  again."  “My  mother 
persuaded  me  to  move  the  tent,”  replied  the 
woman,  “she  said  I  would  be  in  a  safer  place." 

The  next  day  he  was  gone  again.  When  he 
came  back  he  discovered  that  his  wife  had  re¬ 
moved  her  tent  a  second  time.  Without  hesita¬ 
tion  Washakie  picked  up  a  rifle,  rushed  over  to 


60 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


the  tent  of  his  mother-in-law,  and  shot  her  dead ! 
This  act  never  seemed  to  trouble  him  in  the 
least. 

In  my  former  book,  The  People  of  Tipi  Sapa, 

nearly  two  chapters  are  devoted  to  mothers-in- 
law,  dwelling  upon  the  respect  and  deference 
paid  this  class  of  people  by  the  Sioux  or  Dako- 
tahs. 

Washakie,  even  at  that  time,  was  a  communi¬ 
cant  of  the  Church.  Like  most  of  the  Indians, 
especially  the  Shoshones,  and  like  innumerable 
white  people,  he  did  not  always  succeed  in  carry¬ 
ing  his  religion  into  his  daily  life.  It  was  quite  a 
separate  thing.  Washakie  was  merely  a  type  of 
the  Sunday  Christian,  but  in  his  case  deserving 
of  great  leniency  not  only  on  account  of  his  ori¬ 
gin  but  the  constant  state  of  fretfulness  and  irri¬ 
tation  in  which  he  lived,  caused  by  the  haras¬ 
sing  enemies  of  his  people.  He  was  eager  to 
progress,  but  was  obliged,  as  well,  to  battle  the 
undercurrent  created  by  an  influential  Indian, 
the  counterpart  of  the  man  who  sent  a  party  to 
kill  Bishop  Hannington,  the  African  hero.  This 
disturber  of  the  peace  opposed  Washakie,  the 
Government,  the  missions,  and  everything  that 
tended  to  good,  but  was  always  clever  enough 
not  to  be  caught. 

Chief  Washakie  responded  to  the  Government 
whenever  he  could,  with  auxiliary  troops,  and 
often  gathered  together  two  or  three  hundred 


CHIEF  WASHAKIE 


61 


men  to  assist  the  authorities  in  waging  war  on 
hostile  tribes. 

President  Grant  held  Washakie  in  high  es¬ 
teem  ;  and  as  a  token  of  his  regard,  sent  him, 
with  his  compliments,  a  handsome  saddle,  beau¬ 
tifully  mounted.  One,  Dr.  Irwin  was  commis¬ 
sioned  to  present  the  saddle  to  Washakie.  On 
receiving  it,  the  Chief  never  uttered  a  word. 

“Well,  Washakie,”  queried  Dr.  Irwin,  after  a 
long  silence,  “have  you  nothing  to  say?  I  must 
write  to  the  President.” 

Washakie  walked  to  the  window  and  looked 
over  the  prairies  for  some  time.  Then  he  turned 
around  and  replied :  “When  a  favor  is  shown  to 
a  Frenchman,  he  feels  it  in  his  head,  and  his 
tongue  speaks.  When  a  kindness  is  shown  to 
an  Indian,  he  feels  it  in  his  heart;  and  the  heart 
has  no  tongue.” 

“That  is  just  the  reply  I  want  for  President 
Grant,”  said  Dr.  Irwin ;  “something  out  of  the 
ordinary.” 

Washakie  was  once  asked  if  he  approved  of 
his  people  marrying  the  whites,  to  which  he  re¬ 
plied  very  abruptly  in  the  negative.  When  urged 
for  a  reason  to  his  objection,  the  Chief  answered: 
“No  good  white  man  would  marry  an  Indian; 
and  we  do  not  want  any  others.” 

Once  upon  a  time,  when  this  Chief  of  the  Sho¬ 
shones  was  very  ill,  his  spirit  wandered  away 
off,  to  the  land  beyond  the  setting  sun.  It  was 
a  beautiful  land,  the  abode  of  our  Father,  with  no 


62 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


lack  of  anything  that  was  good.  But  suddenly 
a  great  longing  seized  him  to  return  to  his  peo¬ 
ple.  There  were  no  means  by  which  he  could 
do  this ;  and  he  was  in  great  distress.  After  a 
little  while,  to  his  relief  and  delight,  he  saw  one 
of  the  large  pictures,  a  colored  print  given  him 
by  Mr.  Roberts,  which  he  had  fastened  on  the 
wall  of  his  home,  being  wafted  towards  him. 
When  the  picture  reached  the  troubled  Chief,  it 
lifted  him  up  and  floated  him  safely  home  again. 
He  found  himself  in  bed  in  his  cabin  with  his 
people  standing  all  around  him.  When  told  that 
he  was  delirious  and  imagined  all  this,  he 
strongly  asserted  it  was  a  fact  that  the  picture 
had  brought  him  straight  home  from  the  far-off 
land  to  which  he  wandered. 

The  Shoshones  believed  the  old  man,  for  they 
always  trusted  his  word.  As  a  result,  for  many 
years,  and  even  to  this  day,  there  is  a  demand 
among  his  people  for  these  large,  colored,  Sun¬ 
day  school  pictures.  And  one  thing  always  is 
insisted  upon  concerning  the  pictures.  To  be 
of  any  value  no  matter  what  the  scenes  represent, 
they  must  contain  the  figure  of  Christ ;  or,  as 
they  say,  the  picture  of  Our-Father-His  Son. 

Some  years  before  he  died,  Washakie  became 
very  ill.  One  of  the  Government  officials  went 
to  see  him  and  asked  him  where  he  would  like 
to  be  buried.  The  old  Chief  was  both  hurt  and 
offended.  “I  am  going  to  get  well,”  he  replied. 
“I  want  to  see  these  children  grow  up  around 


CHIEF  WASHAKIE 


63 


me.”  He  recovered  completely  and  lived  four 
years  longer. 

In  his  last  days  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  white 
people ;  and  the  messenger  to  whom  he  dictated 
this  epistle  prefaced  it  by  the  following  remarks : 

“So  many  of  our  soldiers  have  heard  about  Wash¬ 
akie,  Chief  of  the  Shoshones  in  Wyoming  Territory, 
that  they  will  be  glad  to  read  the  letter  he  has  sent 
them. 

“Washakie  does  not  know  his  age,  but  thinks  that  he 
is  about  eighty  years  old.  His  hair  is  white,  but  his 
step  is  firm,  and  he  is  as  erect  as  ever.  His  personal 
bravery  is  noted  by  both  whites  and  Indians,  and  his 
tribe  have  the  greatest  love  for  him.  He  is  a  good 
man,  and  he  rose  to  the  chieftainship  through  his  na¬ 
tural  qualities  as  a  leader.  He  has  always  been  loyal 
to  the  Government,  and  with  his  warriors  has  often 
rendered  valuable  aid  to  the  United  States  troops  in  re¬ 
pelling  the  attacks  of  hostile  tribes.” 

THE  CHIEF’S  LETTER 

“Washakie,  Chief  of  the  Shoshones, 

“To  all  white  people  hearty  greeting. 

“My  true  friends  the  whites: 

“I  shake  hands  with  you  from  afar. 

“I  should  like  to  see  you,  but  I  have  never 
left  my  hunting  grounds,  and  never  shall. 

“I  live  here  among  my  people  alone.  All  my  old  war¬ 
riors  are  gone.  I  alone  am  left.  I  am  old;  my  hair 
is  white;  I  cannot  live  long.  I  do  not  know  which  of 
my  sons  will  be  chief  after  me.  The  young  people  are 
growing  up  around  me.  One  thing  I  tell  them  and 
tell  them:  ‘The  whites  are  your  true  friends.  Be  true 
to  them.’  Not  long  ago  the  Indians  from  all  sides  came 
down  on  my  tribe  to  rob  and  to  kill.  I  asked  the 
‘Great  Father’  at  Washington  to  give  me  fifty  rifles.  He 


64 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


gave  them  to  me.  With  them  I  armed  my  bravest  war¬ 
riors,  and  with  the  soldiers  we  drove  back  our  enemies, 
many  in  number,  on  all  sides.  They  were  the  Great  Fa¬ 
ther’s  enemies,  too.  And  now  we  have  peace.  The  In¬ 
dians  who  used  to  fight  and  kill  my  people  now  come 
to  see  me,  all  of  them.  I  give  them  a  welcome,  and  they 
return  home  in  friendship.  I  am  glad  that  mine  eyes 
have  seen  this  before  I  die.  We  are  all  friends  now. 

“One  thing  more  I  want  to  see,  and  my  heart  will  be 
at  peace.  I  want  to  see  the  school  and  church  built 
for  my  tribe  by  the  ‘White  Robes’  (the  Episcopal 
Clergy). 

“My  heart  goes  out  to  you,  my  friends,  I  shake 
hands  with  you  again.” 

One  bright  Sunday  morning,  after  service  at 
the  Government  school,  Mr.  Roberts  took  me  in 
his  surrey  to  the  cemetery  near  the  Agency 
where  Chief  Washakie  is  buried.  His  grave  is 
marked  by  a  massive  monument  of  light  colored 
granite  with  four  polished  surfaces,  each  one 
bearing  an  inscription : 

1.  Washakie,  1804-1900. 

2.  Chief  of  the  Shoshones. 

3.  A  Wise  Ruler. 

4.  Always  loyal  to  the  Government  and  to 
His  White  Brothers. 

The  date  of  Washakie’s  birth  on  this  monu¬ 
ment  should  be  1798  instead  of  1804. 

May  he  rest  in  peace ! 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  REV.  JOHN  ROBERTS 

IT  was  during  the  autumn  evenings  on  my 
visit  to  the  Shoshone  Indian  School  that  Mr. 
Roberts  told  me  not  only  the  things  I  have 
already  related,  but  other  facts  concerning  his 
own  life. 

He  was  born  in  Wales,  baptized  in  his  home 
parish,  and  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  Lichfield 
Cathedral  by  Bishop  Selwyn. 

Mr.  Roberts  came  from  Southern  Colorado  to 
the  Shoshone  Indian  Reservation  in  1883,  arriv¬ 
ing  at  Green  River,  Wyoming,  in  the  midst  of 
one  of  the  coldest  winters  in  the  history  of  the 
state.  The  Government  weather  bureau  for  this 
part  of  the  country  was  at  Fort  Washakie,  and 
the  official  record  was  60  degrees  below  zero. 
He  was  sent  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  J.  F.  Spalding,  then 
Bishop  of  Colorado  and  Wyoming,  to  establish 
a  mission  of  the  Church,  among  the  Shoshones 
and  the  Arapahoes.  The  route  by  which  he  was 
obliged  to  make  the  journey  traversed  the  Wind 
River  Mountains  or  a  part  of  the  main  range  of 
the  Rockies.  It  required  eight  days  to  make  the 
trip  from  Green  River  to  Lander  and  thence  to 


66 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


Fort  Washakie,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles.  The  conveyances  were  wagons  or 
improvised  sleighs  hauled  by  horses,  which  had 
great  trouble  in  dealing  with  the  heavy  drifts 
and  enduring  the  bitter  weather. 

On  reaching  Green  River,  Mr.  Roberts  found 
that  the  stage  line  was  eliminated  for  the  time 
being  by  a  devastating  storm  in  the  mountains, 
a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  and  the  unprecedented  low 
temperature  already  mentioned.  The  stage 
agent  informed  him  it  would  be  impossible  to 
reach  the  Reservation  for  some  time;  but  he  had 
that  day,  made  arrangements  to  forward  the  mail 
as  far  as  was  practicable.  This  was  in  accor¬ 
dance  with  the  requirements  of  the  United  States 
Government,  which  exacted  a  heavy  penalty  from 
the  stage  line  contractors  if  the  mails  were  de¬ 
tained.  If  Mr.  Roberts  so  desired  he  could  ac¬ 
company  the  mail,  but  he  must  undertake  such  a 
journey  entirely  at  his  own  risk  and  responsibil¬ 
ity. 

He  was  quite  determined  to  go  forward  with 
the  business  upon  which  he  was  sent.  In  start¬ 
ing,  he  found  a  wagon  body  on  runners,  with 
the  driver  wrapped  in  blankets  and  a  shawl 
about  his  head.  His  appearance  caused  Mr. 
Roberts  to  think  that  he  himself  ought  to  take 
special  precautions  against  the  severity  of  the 
weather.  So  he  returned  to  the  office  and  put  on 
an  extra  suit  of  underclothing.  Then  the  journey 
began.  The  driver,  an  experienced  plainsman, 


BUILDINGS  OF  CHURCH  OF  THE  REDEEMER,  WIND  RIVER,  WYO. 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ROBERTS 


67 


plunged  his  horses  into  the  deep  snow  of  the 
prairies  as  there  was  no  semblance  of  a  road. 
At  the  end  of  fifteen  miles  of  this  bitter  travel¬ 
ing,  a  way  station  of  the  company,  named  Alkali, 
was  reached.  There  they  changed  horses ;  and 
with  a  fresh  driver  as  well,  made  by  nightfall  an¬ 
other  fifteen  miles. 

The  next  morning  they  continued  their  travels 
in  the  face  of  a  blinding  snow  storm,  and  soon 
began  to  climb  the  foothills  of  the  Rockies. 
After  plunging  about  for  seventeen  miles  they 
reached  a  place  called  Starvation.  And  most 
appropriately  named  it  was ;  for  not  only  did  it 
lack  food  and  water,  but  fuel  as  well.  The 
horse-tender  who  existed  there  was  obliged  to 
burn  sagebrush  for  melting  some  snow  in  order 
to  furnish  drink  for  the  horses ;  as  the  alkali 
spring  was  frozen  en  masse.  He  was  somewhat 
of  a  wag,  and  perhaps  a  little  on  the  order  of 
Mark  Tapley;  for  above  the  door  of  his  cabin 
hung  a  board  with  the  inscription :  “God  Bless 
Our  Home!” 

Without  food,  the  travellers  and  their  horses 
forged  ahead  on  their  terrible  way.  As  they 
drove  further  into  the  mountains  the  snow  be¬ 
came  deeper  and  deeper,  and  it  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  that  they  could  discern  and 
keep  to  the  road.  The  cold  was  so  intense  Mr. 
Roberts  thought  he  would  surely  freeze  solid. 
Over  his  rubbers  he  wrapped  heavy  grain  sacks, 
so  as  to  prevent  his  feet  from  being  frost  bit- 


68 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


ten.  That  night,  of  the  second  day,  they  man¬ 
aged  to  arrive  at  a  station  called  Big  Sandy.  It 
was  occupied  by  an  estimable  family,  who  gave 
them  a  warm  welcome,  for  theirs  was  the  first 
team  to  reach  them  through  the  snow.  After 
a  good  supper  and  a  pleasant  evening  spent  in 
the  warm  kitchen,  Mr.  Roberts  was  shown  to 
his  room.  There  was  a  roaring  wood  fire  in  the 
stove.  He  noticed  that  the  walls  and  ceiling  of 
the  apartment  were  lined  with  unbleached  mus¬ 
lin,  and  had  the  appearance  of  being  heavily 
padded,  especially  the  ceiling.  He  was  advised 
to  jump  into  bed  as  quickly  as  possible  and  let 
the  fire  go  out.  He  soon  realized  the  wisdom  in 
this  advice,  for  the  snow — and  it  was  that  which 
formed  the  padding  of  the  muslin  lining  of  the 
apartment — began  to  melt  with  the  heat !  The 
fire  having  burned  out,  the  cold  very  quickly  as¬ 
serted  itself.  Everything  froze  as  hard  as  iron, 
and  the  snow  out-of-doors,  which  was  very  fine, 
blew  into  all  the  available  cracks  and  crevices. 

The  next  morning,  it  was  impossible  to  pro¬ 
ceed  on  the  journey,  so  the  day  was  spent  at  the 
station.  Their  good  landlady  asked  Mr.  Roberts 
and  the  stage  driver  if  they  would  be  good  enough 
to  visit  for  her  the  camp  of  an  old  trapper,  a 
veteran  of  the  Civil  War.  She  feared  he  might 
be  frozen  to  death.  They  immediately  set  out, 
and  walked  over  the  hill  on  the  solid  snow,  a 
distance  of  some  miles,  to  the  trapper’s  home. 
They  found  a  man  about  sixty  years  old,  hale 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ROBERTS 


69 


and  hearty,  and  apparently  very  comfortable,  in 
his  tent.  When  they  told  him  they  expected  to 
find  him  frozen  to  death,  he  quietly  shook  his 
head.  “No,”  he  replied,  “I  am  too  old  a  trapper 
to  freeze  to  death.  When  it’s  very  cold,  I  slide 
under  them  kivers” — pointing  to  a  heap  of  quilts 
and  blankets — “and  stay  there  !”  Their  land¬ 
lady  was  much  relieved  after  hearing  the  favor¬ 
able  report  of  their  visit. 

Next  morning,  with  a  dry  goods  box  nailed 
on  a  bob  sleigh,  and  four  stout  horses,  Mr.  Ro¬ 
berts  and  the  driver  continued  their  climb  up 
the  mountains  and  ploughed  through  the  snow 
for  fifteen  miles  until  they  came  to  another  way 
station.  Here  they  found  a  jovial  keeper  who 
took  great  pride  in  his  horses,  and  occupied  a 
room  in  the  stable.  This  station  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  trying  part  of  the  journey  for 
the  horses,  owing  to  the  rough  and  steep  roads ; 
and  an  effort  was  made  to  retain  the  fine  old 
keeper  there  by  giving  him  extra  pay  as  a  re¬ 
ward  for  his  good  care  of  the  animals. 

After  being  furnished  with  four  fresh  horses, 
they  reached  in  the  evening  a  station  called  Dry 
Sandy,  occupied  by  a  stage-tender  and  his  wife. 
There  they  found  a  young  woman  passenger 
fatally  frost-bitten.  The  driver  with  whom  she 
had  travelled  was  frozen  to  death;  and  they  bur¬ 
ied  him  in  the  snow.  Mr.  Roberts  remained  up 
all  night  trying  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of  the 
unfortunate  young  woman ;  and  spent  the  next 


70 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


evening  (Sunday)  in  chopping  wood  in  order 
that  the  cabin  should  be  as  well  heated  as  pos¬ 
sible. 

The  next  day,  he  and  the  driver  again  set  out 
to  brave  the  elements.  In  many  places  the  road 
was  impassable  on  account  of  the  drifts ;  so  they 
travelled  along  ridges  from  which  the  wind  had 
blown  off  the  snow.  This  driving  on  the  danger¬ 
ous  edge  of  things  was  rather  exciting,  as  they 
were  tipped  over  several  times ;  but  they  always 
gathered  themselves  and  their  horses  together 
and  went  on  their  way,  even  if  too  congealed  to 
rejoice.  Neither  was  it  altogether  cheerful  to  find, 
a  few  miles  further  along,  another  stage  driver 
frozen  to  death. 

In  the  face  of  all  difficulties  and  disheartening 
episodes,  they  held  to  their  course  and  steered 
right  onward.  Soon  they  began  the  descent  of 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  mountains,  stopping,  as 
usual,  at  the  way  stations,  and  were  told  of  an¬ 
other  passenger  just  preceding  them  who  had 
succumbed  to  the  cold.  Mr.  Roberts  and  his 
driver  burrowed  far  into  the  snow,  but  could  not 
find  the  body.  The  superintendent  of  the  line 
was  also  lost  sight  of  for  a  time.  He  was  after¬ 
wards  picked  up  and  recovered  from  his  sicken¬ 
ing  experience,  but  not  without  losing  his  hands 
and  feet.  Another  driver  was  equally  unfortu¬ 
nate. 

One  black,  piercing  night,  as  they  drove  along 
the  ridge  of  a  hill  overlooking  the  valley,  Mr. 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ROBERTS 


71 


Roberts  began  to  realize  that  he  had  reached  the 
last  stage  of  this  hard,  bitter  journey.  Directly 
before  them,  as  they  made  their  descent  in  a 
darkness  that  could  be  felt,  were  hundreds  of 
tepees  glowing  like  great  Chinese  lanterns.  The 
illumination  was  caused  by  sagebrush  fires  burn¬ 
ing  in  the  center  of  each  tepee.  It  was  a  veri¬ 
table  feast  of  lanterns.  As  they  drove  into  camp, 
their  arrival  was  heralded  by  the  barking  and 
yelping  of  a  host  of  Indian  dogs;  in  fact  the 
whole  valley  reechoed  with  the  uproar  made  by 
these  animals.  So,  after  a  journey  of  eight  days, 
they  had  actually  reached  what  was  then  called 
the  Shoshone  and  Bannock  Agency.  It  was  on 
a  Friday  evening,  when  the  Arapahoe  and  Sho¬ 
shone  Indians  from  all  over  the  Wind  River  Res¬ 
ervation  were  wont  to  camp  near  the  Govern¬ 
ment  agency  in  order  to  be  on  hand  for  their 
rations.  Some  of  them  had  travelled  more  than 
thirty  miles.  Their  tepees  were  pitched  on  the 
frozen  ground,  or  on  the  ice  coated  snow,  by  the 
women,  who  also  gathered  sage  brush  for  fuel, 
where  they  could  extricate  it.  Every  Saturday 
there  was  distributed  to  each  family  five  pounds 
of  flour  and  ten  pounds  of  beef;  besides  bacon, 
coffee,  tea,  sugar,  beans,  dried  fruit,  baking  pow¬ 
der,  and  tobacco. 

Mr.  Roberts  indeed  experienced  the  perils  of 
the  wilderness,  and  hunger  and  thirst  and  weari¬ 
ness  and  painfulness,  owing  to  being  unprepared 
for  the  cruelty  of  the  climate,  all  of  which 


72 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


he  endured  with  the  heroism  of  the  saints  of  old. 

Besides  those  things  that  were  without,  there 
came  daily  upon  Mr.  Roberts,  in  his  new  field, 
the  care  of  all  the  churches.  For  some  time  he 
was  in  charge  of  the  entire  work  among  Arapa- 
hoes,  Shoshones,  and  white  settlers,  within  a 
radius  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  This  in¬ 
cluded  Fort  Washakie,  Wind  River,  Milford, 
Lander,  Hudson,  Riverton,  Shoshone,  Thermop- 
olis,  and  Dubois. 

He  established  the  Government  school,  and 
lived  there  four  years.  In  December,  1884, 
nearly  two  years  after  his  first  perilous  journey, 
Mr.  Roberts  made  the  same  trip  over  the  moun¬ 
tains  to  and  from  the  railroad.  This  time  it  was 
to  meet  a  little  girl  from  the  West  Indies,  with 
whom  he  had  become  acquainted  when  visiting 
in  those  Islands.  The  bride-to-be,  enveloped  in 
a  buffalo  coat  and  wrapped  in  a  buffalo  robe, 
thought  the  journey  was  great  fun.  When  they 
reached  Fort  Washakie,  the  thermometer  regis¬ 
tered  35  degrees  below  zero.  They  were  married 
on  Christmas  Day,  1884. 

The  winters  of  the  early  eighties  seemed  to  be 
unusually  severe.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Mr. 
Roberts  went  to  Lander  for  evening  services. 
While  visiting  in  one  of  the  houses  there,  he 
found  a  man  with  his  foot  severely  frost-bitten. 
He  told  Mr.  Roberts  that  he  was  going  to  have  it 
amputated  that  evening  by  a  certain  so-called 
doctor  or  surgeon.  An  hour  or  so  later,  at  a 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ROBERTS 


73 


boarding  house  where  Mr.  Roberts  went  for  sup¬ 
per,  he  heard  this  same  doctor  elaborating  to  a 
very  interested  group  of  boarders,  as  to  the  man¬ 
ner  in  which  he  intended  to  cut  off  the  man's 
foot.  From  what  he  gathered  of  the  doctor’s 
talk,  or  harangue,  he  mistrusted  his  ability  to 
perform  the  operation  successfully.  After  ser¬ 
vice  that  evening,  Mr.  Roberts  went  again  to  see 
the  frost-bitten  stranger  and  advised  him  to  have 
the  army  surgeon  at  Fort  Washakie,  present,  to 
assist  at  the  operation.  The  man  did  not  con¬ 
sider  that  necessary ;  whereupon  Mr.  Roberts 
told  him  that  he  would  not  return  to  his  home 
on  the  Indian  Reservation  that  evening  until  the 
operation  was  performed.  He  waited  for  some 
little  time,  then  inquired  of  an  attendant  of  the 
sick  man  how  things  were  progressing;  and  was 
told  that  the  bleeding  could  not  be  stopped.  He 
then  summoned  the  so-called  surgeon,  and  told 
him  that  he  would  have  him  indicted  for  man¬ 
slaughter  unless  he  sent  at  once  for  the  Army 
surgeon  at  Fort  Washakie,  a  distance  of  sixteen 
miles.  It  was  in  the  dead  of  winter,  with  deep 
snow  on  the  ground.  The  ice  on  the  creek  be¬ 
tween  Lander  and  the  Fort  was  probably  about 
three  inches  thick.  “How  can  I  get  word  to 
him?”  said  the  doctor,  rather  alarmed.  “I  will 
go  after  him  and  bring  him  here,”  replied  Mr. 
Roberts.  He  immediately  went  to  the  livery 
stable  and  aroused  the  keeper,  asking  him  for  a 
team  to  drive  to  Fort  Washakie.  “I  have  noth- 


74 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


ing  but  a  pair  of  wild,  young  western  broncos,” 
the  man  replied,  “and  they  are  scared  of  In¬ 
dians.  You  know  some  broncos  are  as  much 
scared  of  Indians  as  of  a  bear.”  Mr.  Roberts 
felt  sure  there  would  be  no  Indians  abroad  on 
such  a  cold  night,  and  that  broncos  were  good 
travellers.  So  he  started  out  with  them,  cover¬ 
ing  the  ground  at  a  rapid  rate.  After  he  had  trav¬ 
elled  about  ten  miles  of  the  distance,  owing  to 
the  deep  snow  and  the  darkness  he  lost  his  way. 
The  cold  was  intense.  Mr.  Roberts  continued 
across  the  prairie,  being  guided  there  by  the 
lights  of  the  Fort.  All  of  a  sudden  his  spanking 
little  team  pulled  up  on  the  bank  of  Trout  Creek 
— a  stream  running  through  the  valley  about 
two  miles  from  Fort  Washakie.  There  was  no 
time  to  hunt  for  a  bridge;  that  poor,  suffering 
man  in  Lander  was  bleeding  to  death.  Mr.  Rob¬ 
erts  had  a  good  whip  in  his  hands  and  severe  bits 
in  the  horses’  mouths.  With  all  his  strength  he 
applied  the  whip  to  their  backs.  The  broncos 
reared  high  in  the  air,  then  made  a  desperate 
plunge  down  the  bank  into  the  creek.  The  ice 
being  only  three  inches  thick,  they  broke  through 
with  a  crash  that  reechoed  up  and  down  the 
valley  that  still  night,  but  they  ploughed  around 
in  the  broken  ice  and  water  until,  with  steady 
guidance  and  considerable  urging,  they  brought 
up  on  the  other  bank  of  the  creek,  and  in  a  few 
moments  were  in  front  of  the  Fort.  Mr.  Rob¬ 
erts,  with  great  expedition,  secured  the  Army 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ROBERTS 


75 


surgeon,  and  returned  with  him  post  haste  to 
Lander,  this  time  by  the  bridge  over  the  creek. 
They  arrived  just  in  time  to  save  the  man’s  life. 
The  Army  surgeon  prosecuted  the  fake-doctor, 
who  soon  fled  the  country. 

One  morning,  Mr.  Roberts  set  out  on  a  jour¬ 
ney,  driving  a  spirited  pony  to  a  single  buggy. 
He  crossed  over  a  creek  on  a  bridge  that  spanned 
a  high  gulch.  When  he  returned  late  in  the 
afternoon  it  was  raining  heavily ;  in  fact,  there 
had  been  a  cloud-burst  near  the  bridge,  and  the 
gulch  was  filled  with  a  torrent  of  muddy  waves. 
The  water-course  was  a  narrow  one,  a  little  over 
twenty  feet  in  width.  Mr.  Roberts  thought  the 
water  was  probably  covering  the  bridge  to  a 
depth  of  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches ;  but  the  bridge 
was  not  in  sight.  It  was  raining  too  hard  for 
him  to  get  down  from  his  buggy  and  investigate. 
He  took  it  for  granted,  however,  that  the  bridge 
was  still  there,  although  his  pony,  really  an  In¬ 
dian  buffalo  horse,  refused  to  step  on  it.  This 
time,  too,  he  was  armed  with  a  good  whip  and 
made  use  of  it.  The  little  animal  reared  high  in 
air,  but  instead  of  alighting  on  the  bridge  he  dis¬ 
appeared  into  the  torrent  of  muddy  water !  The 
bridge  was  gone.  He  swam  with  energy  and  all 
the  speed  he  could  muster,  and  after  battling 
bravely  with  the  force  and  rush  of  the  stream, 
drew  the  buggy,  with  Mr.  Roberts  calmly  seated 
in  it,  safely  up  the  opposite  bank.  No  damage 
was  done  excepting  a  broken  king  bolt  and  a 


76 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


muddy  soaking.  He  was  a  tough  little  horse, 
this  swimmer,  and  vicious  too.  He  would  bite 
at  anything  that  came  his  way,  and  often  reared 
up  and  struck  at  his  master.  He  died  on  the 
School  Farm,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three. 

Mr.  Roberts  once  owned  a  horse  which 
was  at  home  on  the  prairies  and  would  never 
seek  the  shelter  of  a  stable.  He  possessed  only 
one  great  drawback.  When  being  driven  to  a 
buggy,  if  by  any  chance  a  storm  came  up,  he 
would  turn  his  back  to  it,  and  could  not  be  made 
to  budge.  This  at  times,  especially  if  the  storm 
occurred  and  the  horse  stampeded  several  miles 
from  any  place  of  refuge,  caused  the  driver  and 
other  occupants  of  the  vehicle  considerable  in¬ 
convenience  and  discomfort.  He  now  owns  a 
spirited  team,  one  of  the  horses  being  twenty- 
five  and  the  other  twenty-eight  years  old.  These, 
and  the  other  School  horses  as  well,  live  in  the 
pasture  all  the  year  around.  Whenever  they  are 
wanted  for  driving  or  riding  they  must  be  caught 
each  time.  His  daughters  catch  and  harness  or 
saddle  them,  according  as  they  are  to  be  em¬ 
ployed  for  driving  or  riding. 

Mr.  Roberts  related  some  interesting  experi¬ 
ences,  also,  of  the  people  he  had  met  in  different 
parts  of  his  jurisdiction.  During  a  bitter  cold 
spell,  while  he  was  in  Milford,  holding  a  service, 
one  of  his  feet  became  dreadfully  frost  bitten. 
A  man  whom  he  knew  in  the  village,  on  hearing 
of  it,  came  out  from  a  saloon  and  gave  him  a 


THE  REV.  JOHN  ROBERTS 


77 


glass  of  wine,  which  he  drank  with  enjoyment. 
A  rabid  prohibitionist  saw  him  take  the  liquor, 
and  on  meeting  him  afterwards,  said :  “No  won¬ 
der  your  foot  was  frozen.”  “Both  of  them  would 
have  been  if  I  had  not  drunk  the  wine,”  replied 
Mr.  Roberts. 

One  evening,  when  he  was  returning  from  a 
service  in  Lander,  he  was  “held  up”.  As  he  was 
fastening  his  overcoat,  the  Mexican  pony  on 
which  he  was  riding  came  to  a  full  stop.  Then 
two  young  men  planted  their  guns  on  his  (Mr. 
Roberts’)  chest.  He  made  a  grab  for  their  wea¬ 
pons.  One  of  the  fellows  went  through  his  poc¬ 
kets  and  got  a  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  for 
his  trouble.  If  Mr.  Roberts  had  been  armed 
himself,  he  would  have  been  killed.  Both  the 
thieves  were  desperate  characters.  The  man  who 
did  the  stealing  came  from  Texas  and  was  living 
on  a  ranch  of  his  own  near  Rawlins,  Wyoming. 
He  told  the  people  in  his  neighborhood  that  he 
had  “held  up”  the  minister.  While  living  in 
Texas  later  he  committed  a  murder.  As  he  was 
starting  for  his  Wyoming  ranch  with  a  herd  of 
cattle,  he  was  pursued  by  the  sheriff  and  his 
posse.  He  fought  them  desperately  and  drove 
them  back.  On  his  return  to  Texas  he  was  shot 
and  killed  at  sight  by  the  sheriff. 

Living  in  Lander  at  this  time  was  a  young  fel¬ 
low  from  Philadelphia.  His  mother,  being 
greatly  distressed  about  her  boy,  wrote  to  Mr. 
Roberts  to  “keep  an  eye  on  him.”  Mr.  Roberts 


78 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


made  inquiries  at  the  man’s  lodging.  The  land¬ 
lord  stated  that  he  was  often  out  all  night,  and 
that  he  owned  a  silver  mounted  gun ;  but  when 
he  looked  for  this  weapon  in  the  young  man’s 
room,  he  could  not  find  it.  Mr.  Roberts  then 
felt  convinced,  when  he  was  attacked,  that  it 
was  the  work  of  the  young  Philadelphian  and 
a  desperado  companion.  In  grabbing  for  their 
guns  he  thought  he  might  secure  the  silver 
mounted  one,  thereby  having  full  proof.  Then 
right  on  the  spot  he  told  him  to  stop  that  kind  of 
thing,  or  he  would  get  into  trouble.  “Both  of 
you  promise  me !”  said  Mr.  Roberts,  and  one  of 
them  did.  He  thought  he  met  the  same  fellow 
a  few  weeks  afterward,  but  it  was  the  ruffian 
from  Texas.  Mr.  Roberts  said  that  not  only  on 
that  evening,  but  long  afterwards,  he  felt  sure  it 
was  the  young  man  from  Philadelphia.  Since 
that  time,  he  told  me,  he  has  been  very  careful 
never  to  accuse  anyone  without  good  proof.  He 
never  could  trace  the  Eastern  boy;  neither  was 
the  other  desperado  heard  of  again. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


SOME  SHOSHONES 


HE  Shoshone  Indians  have  a  sense  of 


humor  all  their  own.  O-wah-ta,  their 


second  chief,  lieutenant  of  Washakie’s 
and  his  firm  friend,  had  a  narrow  escape  while 
hunting  in  the  mountains.  He  was  riding  calmly 
along  the  trail,  when  he  heard  a  soft  scuffling ; 
and  on  looking  around  saw  a  huge  female  grizzly 
bear  making  towards  him.  O-wah-ta  said  he 
put  spurs  to  his  horse  and  galloped  for  dear  life. 
Now  this  bear  was  the  proud  mother  of  three 
cubs,  which  persisted  in  running  after  her.  She 
would  almost  reach  the  Indian  and  be  ready  to 
spring  upon  him,  but  by  that  time  the  little  ones 
had  caught  up  with  her.  Then  she  would  turn 
around,  give  each  of  them  a  sound  slap,  and  roll 
them  over  in  the  dust.  This  happened  three 
times ;  and  that  was  how  O-wah-ta  escaped.  The 
last  time  he  looked  back,  he  saw  that  the  grizzly 
had  given  up  the  chase  and  was  licking  and  fond¬ 
ling  her  cubs  as  though  deeply  repentant  for 
having  been  rough  with  them. 

“Where  was  your  gun?”  inquired  one  of  O- 
wah-ta’s  friends.  “Oh,  I  had  it  with  me,”  he  re¬ 
plied;  “but  I  forgot  all  about  it!” 


80 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


Mr.  Roberts  was  talking  one  evening  about  a 
friend  of  his  named  Pansi-Tangi.  He  was  short 
of  stature  and  small  of  frame.  Now  this  Indian 
owned  a  big  white  horse  which  took  it  into  his 
head  to  run  away.  After  a  diligent  search  Pansi- 
Tangi  discovered  his  trail.  It  led  on  to  a  log 
which  crossed  a  stream.  The  horse  had  evi¬ 
dently  walked  over  on  the  log,  for  the  trail  soon 
ceased.  “I  looked  for  that  old  beast  day  in  and 
day  out,”  said  Pansi-Tangi.  “One  morning  I 
went  over  to  a  lot  to  gather  some  wood.  There 
was  an  empty  tipi  nearby ;  and  poking  his  head 
out  of  the  flap  was  my  white  horse !” 

Pansi-Tangi  tells  the  story  that  he  was  off  in 
the  mountains  one  time  and  shot  a  woodchuck. 
He  hung  it  on  the  horn  of  his  saddle,  then  con¬ 
tinued  his  hunting.  Before  he  started,  thinking 
his  old  horse  must  be  hungry,  he  unsaddled  him 
and  let  him  run.  When  he  returned  with  the 
second  woodchuck,  the  horse  was  on  hand,  but 
the  saddle  was  gone.  The  woodchuck  had  run 
away  with  it ! 

The  Shoshones  all  laugh  heartily  at  these  little 
tales. 

He  was  a  good  man,  this  Pansi-Tangi.  Once 
upon  a  time  he  went  far  away  to  the  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  camped  alone.  He  pick¬ 
eted  his  horse,  and  rolled  himself  in  his  blanket 
for  the  night.  While  he  slept,  he  said,  he  heard 
good  things. 


SOME  SHOSHONES 


81 


“From  whom  did  you  hear  them?”  asked  Mr. 
Roberts. 

“Why,  I  heard  a  voice  cry:  ‘Pansi-Tangi, 

Pansi-Tangi,  Pansi-Tangi!  Live  a  good  life,  or 
a  godly,  righteous,  and  sober  life’.”  Literally, 
“Let  your  conversation  be  good  or  your  de¬ 
meanour  (tant-e-me-ah)  good;  then  you  will  find 
the  entrance  to  our  Father’s  home  close  at  hand; 
then  when  you  come  to  die,  you  will  not  have 
to  go  hunting  far  and  wide  for  the  entrance  to 
our  Father’s  home.  It  will  be  very  near.” 
“Those,”  said  Pansi-Tangi,  “are  the  good  things 
I  heard  on  the  other  side  of  the  mountains.” 

“You  are  quite  right,”  replied  Mr.  Roberts. 

Pansi-Tangi  died  a  year  or  two  after  this  ex¬ 
pedition. 

A  Shoshone  named  Gweenatsie,  or  Eagle,  was 
the  first  Indian  to  farm  for  Mr.  Roberts.  (This 
man  had  a  daughter  called  Quiet  Taylor.)  He 
ploughed  up  the  sage  brush  on  the  property 
given  by  Washakie  for  a  school  farm.  Now  the 
school  is  there  in  the  midst  of  pretty  cottonwood 
trees.  One  morning,  Mr.  Roberts,  while  super¬ 
intending  the  work,  told  Gweenatsie  to  go 
after  another  plough.  This  implement  was  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  and  he  supposed  the 
Indian  would  drive  over  for  it  with  the  team. 
Instead  of  that,  he  jumped  on  the  back  of  one  of 
the  team  horses,  rode  over  for  the  plough,  lifted 
it  to  one  of  his  shoulders,  mounted  the  horse 
again,  and  came  galloping  back.  When  he 


82 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


reached  Mr.  Roberts  he  threw  the  plough  down 
at  his  feet  and  broke  it.  “Such  was  my  first  In¬ 
dian  farmer/’  said  Mr.  Roberts.  “But  now  the 
tribe  abounds  in  excellent  ones,  who  vie  with 
the  whites  in  raising  splendid  crops.” 

Gweenatsie  continued  his  work  with  the 
broken  plough.  Suddenly  he  called  Mr.  Roberts’ 
attention  to  a  rocky  hill  about  a  mile  away. 

“Do  you  see  some  women  (Shoshones)  up 
there  among  the  rocks?”  he  inquired. 

“Yes,”  replied  Mr.  Roberts;  “what  are  they 
doing?” 

“Oh,  laying  by  (burying)  a  child.” 

“Whose  child  is  it?” 

“Mine!”  answered  Gweenatsie;  “it  is  just  a 
girl !” 

The  Shoshones  have  changed  very  much  since 
then,  in  their  estimate  of  a  daughter ;  and  they 
always  seek  Christian  burial  in  a  cemetery  now. 

Mr.  Roberts  went  on  to  tell  of  Friday,  a  little 
Arapahoe  boy.  When  quite  small,  he  was  cap¬ 
tured  by  the  whites  and  taken  to  St.  Louis,  where 
he  was  well  brought  up  and  educated.  When  he 
became  a  man,  he  had  a  great  desire  to  return  to 
his  people.  With  the  help  of  the  Government, 
he  reached  one  of  the  distant  western  forts. 
Learning  at  this  point  of  the  whereabouts  of  the 
Arapahoes,  he  procured  a  horse,  and  by  the  aid  of 
a  friendly  Indian,  after  many  days  of  wandering, 
he  found  his  people.  Friday’s  relatives  recog¬ 
nized  him  and  gave  him  a  great  welcome.  He 


SOME  SHOSHONES 


83 


was  shocked  at  their  condition.  When  they  of¬ 
fered  him  food,  he  could  not  eat  it,  so  dirty  and 
untidy  were  the  surroundings.  He  decided  to 
return  to  the  whites,  but  as  his  guides  left  him, 
he  found  it  impracticable.  For  two  or  three 
days  he  could  eat  nothing  offered  to  him;  but 
being  a  husky,  strong  young  fellow,  his  appetite 
at  last  returned  and  overcame  all  scruples.  He 
ate  everything  that  was  set  before  him.  One  day 
he  was  taking  a  ride  with  Dr.  Irwin.  All  of  a 
sudden  Friday  spied  a  piece  of  bread  along  the 
road.  He  jumped  from  his  horse,  and  picking 
it  up,  began  to  eat  it.  He  was  reproved  by  the 
agent,  who  said  he  did  not  know  whether  that 
bread  was  fit  to  eat  or  not.  “Doctor/’  answered 
Friday  philosophically,  “we  miss  a  great  many 
of  the  good  things  of  life  by  being  too  particu¬ 
lar!”  And  he  told  him  of  his  return  to  his  tribe. 
Sam  Friday,  his  grandson,  has  a  fine  farm  just 
below  the  Washakie  Sulphur  Springs. 

My  visit  to  the  school  for  Shoshone  Indian 
girls  was  most  delightful  and  interesting.  To 
those  not  especially  interested,  the  routine  may 
seem  humdrum.  Breakfast  is  at  seven  for  every¬ 
one,  after  which  the  kitchen  work  is  attended  to 
and  the  dormitories  put  in  order;  then,  prayers 
at  nine.  The  children  have  special  days  for 
washing  and  ironing  and  churning  and  sweeping 
and  mopping  and  sewing.  Certain  ones  are  se¬ 
lected  to  prepare  vegetables  for  the  noon  dinner. 
The  afternoon  is  devoted  to  school  work  in  the 


84 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


combination  chapel  and  school  house,  built  of 
logs;  then  there  is  time  for  romping  out-of-doors 
until  the  supper  bell  rings. 

At  evening  prayer,  the  children  sing  six  hymns 
of  their  own  choosing,  sometimes  seven  and 
eight,  and  they  love  to  sing.  The  older  ones  put 
their  whole  soul  into  it.  Rose  Wagner,  lamed 
for  life  by  an  accident,  but  a  girl  of  beautiful 
character  and  very  capable,  has  a  fine  soprano 
voice.  If  cultivated,  it  would  stand  comparison 
with  the  best  in  our  city  choirs.  Rose  does  the 
genuine  Shoshone  bead  work — flower  designs  in 
all  colors.  During  the  course  of  some  conversa¬ 
tions  with  her,  she  told  me  something  of  the 
Peyote  meetings  now  held  among  her  people. 

Every  Saturday  night,  the  Shoshones,  as  well 
as  the  Arapahoes,  hold  a  big  meeting  in  a  tent. 
The  young  people  flock  to  them,  especially  the 
young  men ;  and  they,  as  well  as  the  girls,  are 
attired  in  their  best  clothes.  When  all  are  as¬ 
sembled,  a  chapter  from  the  Bible  is  read  by  the 
leader,  and  the  Lord’s  Prayer  is  recited.  Then 
some  one  chooses  a  Shoshone  song,  to  which  an 
accompaniment  is  beaten  on  the  individual  drums, 
and  this  continues  for1  some  time,  as  the  songs  are 
selected  by  different  members  of  the  congrega¬ 
tion.  After  the  musical  programme  is  completed, 
they  sit  on  their  feet  with  knees  bent,  praying  to 
the  Father  and  receiving  the  peyote  beans,  which 
are  handed  to  them.  These  beans  are  small  and 
taste  like  dirt.  Four,  the  usual  number  taken 


SOME  SHOSHONES 


85 


by  each  one,  have  quite  an  effect  on  the  recipi¬ 
ents,  very  similar  to  that  of  opium.  When 
morning  comes  they  go  outside  and  talk,  but 
their  speech  is  thick.  Some  who  have  partaken 
too  freely  of  the  pernicious  drug  are  obliged  to 
be  taken  to  their  homes  in  buggies.  They  feel 
strange  and  are  liable  to  have  all  sorts  of  visions. 
One  or  two  declared  they  have  seen  lights  on  the 
heads  of  good  Shoshones,  like  the  cloven  tongues 
of  fire  at  Pentecost.  Others,  perhaps,  see  snakes 
appearing  in  and  about  their  food.  If  children 
are  ill,  they  are  taken  to  these  meetings,  prayed 
for,  and  allowed  to  eat  the  beans.  The  poor 
little  creatures  nearly  always  die.  The  white 
doctors  have  told  the  Indians  that  if  they  con¬ 
tinue  to  take  the  peyote  bean,  a  certain  kind  of 
worm  will  form  in  them  and  eat  into  their  sys¬ 
tems;  but  the  majority  do  not  believe  it.  Some 
of  the  better  class  of  Indians  are  very  much  op¬ 
posed  to  these  meetings  and  could  not  be  in¬ 
duced  to  attend  them.  Rose  is  very  sceptical 
about  the  morals  of  her  people.  She  told  me  she 
knew  only  two  pure  women  in  the  whole  tribe. 
She  herself  is  part  white,  and  not  very  loyal  to 
her  Indian  blood. 

One  afternoon,  as  I  was  sitting  on  the  front 
lawn,  two  Indian  girls,  Iva  Sinclair  and  Mollie 
Snyder,  came  over  and  threw  themselves  on  the 
grass  beside  me.  “Each  one  of  you  must  tell 
me  a  story,”  I  said,  and  they  related  the  follow¬ 
ing  brief  tales : 


86 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


Some  Shoshones,  who  were  moving  from  one 
camping  place  to  another,  had  a  pet  bear.  The 
woman  of  the  family  was  left  behind  with  her 
horse  and  the  bear,  and  the  horse  on  which  the 
bear  was  to  ride.  The  others  went  on  ahead  to 
make  the  new  place  ready.  She  tried  her  best  to 
help  the  bear  on  the  horse,  but  he  was  too  heavy 
and  clumsy.  Finally  she  gave  him  a  good  slap, 
and  he  turned  on  her  and  killed  her !  Iva  de¬ 
clares  this  is  a  true  story.  She  knows  the 
woman’s  grand-daughter ! 

Once  upon  a  time  a  boy  was  right  in  the  midst 
of  the  fighting  when  the  Shoshones  were  having 
a  battle  with  the  Cheyennes.  He  forgot  his  dan¬ 
ger  while  he  was  watching  the  fighting  and  scalp¬ 
ing.  Although  he  was  told  not  to  go,  he  ran 
down  to  the  Cheyennes’  camp ;  but  got  back 
safely.  His  brother  scolded  him.  This  made 
him  very  angry,  and  he  started  off  with  a  lot  of 
clubs  to  kill  his  brother’s  horse.  The  latter 
thought  he  was  in  earnest  and  went  in  search 
of  him ;  but  he  was  only  teasing  his  brother,  so 
did  not  kill  the  horse.  Instead,  he  brought  back 
with  him  a  quantity  of  otters  and  beavers  and 
rabbits  and  ducks.  This  boy  turned  out  to  be 
a  great  hunter  and  a  brave  warrior. 

Once  upon  a  time  a  little  boy,  about  four  years 
old,  was  lost  from  the  camp.  The  people  looked 
for  him  everywhere  but  could  not  find  him.  One 
day  his  brother  was  hunting  in  the  mountains  and 
ran  across  a  number  of  coyotes.  There  was  the 


SOME  SHOSHONES 


87 


long  lost  boy,  living  with  them!  The  coyotes 
brought  him  rabbits  and  chickens,  and  gave  him, 
too,  the  liver  and  sweetbreads  of  the  calves  and 
lambs  they  killed.  After  he  ate,  they  licked  the 
blood  from  his  mouth  and  face.  They  kept  him 
warm  by  letting  him  sleep  cuddled  among  them ; 
and  they  covered  him  up  with  their  tails.  The 
boy  had  been  gone  two  years.  He  was  very  wild. 
His  hair  was  matted,  his  nails  were  grown  very 
long ;  and  he  was  quite  naked  and  terribly  dirty. 

The  Shoshones  tell  a  story  of  one  of  their 
people  who,  while  hunting  in  the  mountains, 
was  overtaken  by  a  storm  and  found  refuge  in  a 
bear’s  den.  This  he  discovered  to  his  horror  af¬ 
ter  he  had  been  in  the  den  for  a  little  while;  fur¬ 
thermore,  he  saw  that  the  bears  had  prepared  a 
huge  ball  of  grass  like  a  bale  of  hay.  During  the 
winter  this  grass  protected  the  opening  to  their 
cave,  but  since  some  mild  days  had  come,  the 
bears  had  removed  it ;  that  was  why  the  den  was 
open.  Thinking  the  storm  was  abating,  the  man 
thought  he  would  crawl  out  by  the  way  he  en¬ 
tered.  To  his  consternation  and  amazement  he 
found  that  the  bears  were  sealing  it  up  tight  with 
the  ball  of  grass!  He  was  afraid  they  might 
attack  him  if  he  tried  to  tear  down  the  protection 
to  the  entrance;  he  thought  he  would  just  wait 
and  see  how  things  would  turn  out,  keep  very 
quiet,  and  show  as  little  fear  as  possible.  The 
bears  were  very  kind  to  him.  He  managed  to 
pick  up  bits  of  meat  or  honey,  and  so  kept  him- 


88 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


self  alive.  After  waking  from  a  sound  sleep,  he 
saw  the  bears  hard  at  work  opening  their  winter 
quarters.  They  were  rolling  away  the  great  ball 
of  grass  which  had  closed  up  the  den  so  tight  all 
winter.  The  man  came  out  quietly  and  was 
scarcely  noticed  by  the  bears.  He  was  delighted 
with  the  sunshine ;  and  when  he  found  he  was  far 
enough  away  to  be  quite  safe  from  attack,  even  if 
the  bears  were  planning  it,  he  danced  and  sang 
for  joy.  He  never  went  near  these  animals 
again. 


SHOSHONE  MISSION  SCHOOL 


WASHAKIE’S  CHAPEL 
Shoshone  Mission  School 


GIRLS  OF  SHOSHONE 
MISSION  SCHOOL 


CHAPTER  X. 


IN  CONCLUSION 


FTER  forty  years  of  service  in  the  field, 


the  “hidden  hero”  of  our  Church,  the  Rev. 


^  John  Roberts,  has  retired.  At  least,  he 
says  he  has,  and  Mrs.  Roberts  is  now  the  warden 
of  the  Shoshone  Indian  School.  The  problem 
of  educating  their  children  has  been  to  them  a 
most  difficult  and  serious  one.  At  the  time  that 
their  family  were  growing  up,  worth-while 
schools  for  white  people  in  the  West  were  few 
and  far  between.  The  children  had  to  be  sent 
long  distances  away,  at  great  expense,  and  then 
only  for  a  year  or  two  years.  This  demanded 
manifold  sacrifices  on  the  part  of  the  parents ; 
long  periods  of  privation  and  anxiety. 

They  must  fell  well  repaid  now,  in  having 
about  them  a  group  of  interesting,  well-trained 
highly  useful  members  of  society,  and  of  untold 
influence  for  good  wherever  they  may  be  sit¬ 
uated.  But  this  is  owing  chiefly  to  the  heroism 
of  their  parents ;  and  the  beautiful  atmosphere 
of  their  home,  in  which  it  was  provided  that 
they  should  learn,  from  their  earliest  years,  all 


90 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


things  that  Christians  ought  to  know  and  be¬ 
lieve  to  their  souls’  health. 

Mr.  Roberts  and  his  family  are  as  much  be¬ 
loved  by  all  the  white  people  in  the  region  as  by 
the  Indians.  The  latter  have  a  favorite,  signifi¬ 
cant  name  for  him,  and  other  names  for  Mrs. 
Roberts,  their  son,  and  four  daughters. 

Mr.  Roberts  they  call  Dambavie  or  Elder 
Brother.  Mrs.  Roberts  is  Dambavie-un-gwe, 
Elder  Brother’s  wife.  Their  son  is  Wuchnaja,  or 
Bear  Chief ;  Mrs.  Graham  is  Muzumbeatsie  or 
Mountain  Chief ;  as  she  was  such  a  fine  climber 
when  she  lived  at  the  school.  Mrs.  Markley  is 
Baritsie  or  Elk;  Miss  Marian,  Gwaratsie  or  Ante¬ 
lope  ;  Miss  Gwen,  Sogoratsie  or  Deer.  The  people 
of  our  Church  (the  Episcopalians)  are  named 
Tosagwaso,  or  White  Robes. 

Mr.  Roberts  sees  a  great  change  in  the  lives  of 
the  Indians  during  the  forty  years  he  has  lived  on 
the  Reservation.  During  the  first  year  he  was 
there,  these  people  sold  some  three  thousand 
buffalo  hides,  and  many  skins  of  elk  and  other 
animals.  When  he  was  a  boy,  living  at  his  own 
home  in  Wales,  he  remembers  that  great  quanti¬ 
ties  of  buffalo  meat  were  shipped  to  England. 
Hunting  for  a  living  is  now  unknown,  and 
the  Indians  are  employed  in  agriculture  and  stock 
raising;  many  of  them  are  making  good,  some  are 
moderately  well-to-do,  others  really  prosperous, 
and  the  majority  of  both  the  Arapahoes  and  Sho- 


IN  CONCLUSION 


91 


shones  on  this  reservation  owe  their  success  to 
the  efforts  of  Mr.  Roberts. 

The  object  of  the  Indian  schools  and  of  all  Mr. 
Roberts’  long,  faithful  service  among  them,  has 
been,  and  is,  to  make  the  Indians  self-supporting 
and  self-respecting.  The  education  given  them  is 
very  practical,  and  special  attention  is  devoted  to 
industrial  pursuits.  The  girls  are  taught  every¬ 
thing  a  ranchman’s  daughter  ought  to  know. 
They  are  also  required  to  learn  English,  which 
they  do  fairly  well.  Their  religious  instruction  is 
carefully  attended  to  by  Mr.  Roberts.  They  have 
been  well  instructed  in  regard  to  the  importance 
of  helping  those  more  needy  than  themselves. 
During  and  after  the  War,  the  children  at  the 
Government  school,  as  well  as  those  at  the  Sho¬ 
shone  school,  contributed  largely  to  the  Arme¬ 
nians  for  their  suffering  children.  “God  remem¬ 
bers  all  this,”  said  Mr.  Roberts,  in  one  of  his  ad¬ 
dresses  to  them.  “You  will  find  it  in  heaven. 
What  you  spend  on  your  hair  ribbons  and  on 
things  for  yourself  you  will  lose.  You  can  do 
things  that  God  cannot.  You  can  break  a  prom¬ 
ise  ;  God  cannot.” 

Every  Sunday  morning  Mr.  Roberts  talks  to 
the  children  at  the  Government  school,  and  on 
Sunday  afternoons  addresses  the  girls  at  his 
own  Shoshone  school.  It  was  the  greatest  privi¬ 
lege  and  pleasure  to  hear  such  a  lucid,  pure,  sim¬ 
ple,  and  beautiful  exposition  of  the  Creed,  the 
Ten  Commandments,  the  Lord’s  Prayer,  and 


92 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


other  parts  of  the  Gospel.  It  was  the  actual  sim¬ 
plicity,  and  manifested  the  faith,  of  the  disciples 
and  of  the  early  Christians ;  any  little  child  could 
understand.  How  much  we  need  more  purity 
and  simplicity  of  heart  and  conduct  in  all  the 
exercises  of  our  daily  lives ! 

On  one  of  these  occasions,  the  appointed  lesson 
was  the  narrative  of  Christ  accompanying  His 
parents  to  Jerusalem.  Mr.  Roberts  emphasized 
most  strongly  the  foster-fatherhood  of  Joseph, 
and  the  God-nature  of  our  Saviour.  Jesus  was 
not  half  God,  half  man.  He  was  all  God,  all  man. 
We  know  He  was  man,  human,  because  He  got 
tired,  hungry,  thirsty.  God  could  not  be  any  of 
these.  Then,  Jesus  Christ  died.  God  cannot 
die.  He  was  God,  because  there  was  darkness, 
night,  over  the  earth  in  the  middle  of  the  day ;  and 
the  earth  shook,  and  the  rocks  broke.  When  an 
ordinary  man  dies,  nothing  like  that  happens. 
Christ  could  heal  the  sick;  raise  the  dead.  One 
day  a  girl  twelve  years  old  was  dying,  and  dead 
when  He  reached  the  house.  He  took  her  by  the 
hand  and  raised  her  up.  Once  there  was  a 
funeral  procession  on  its  slow  march  along  the 
road.  Christ  came  forward  and  touched  the  bier. 
They  that  carried  the  body  of  the  young  man  who 
had  died,  stood  still.  He  told  the  dead  body  to 
arise.  The  young  man  immediately  sat  up,  alive, 
and  our  Lord  delivered  him  to  his  mother.  No 
mere  man  could  do  that.  Once  a  man  had  been 
in  the  grave  four  days.  When  the  Shoshones 


IN  CONCLUSION 


93 


die,  they  are  wrapt  in  blankets  and  skins.  This 
man,  as  the  Jews  prepare  their  dead,  was  wrapt 
in  sheets.  Jesus  said  to  him:  “Come  forth!”  and 
he  did  at  once.  The  man  could  not  walk  very 
well,  wrapt  in  these  sheets.  Jesus  told  him  to 
take  them  off.  He  did ;  and  walked  and  lived,  and 
was  well.  No  man  could  do  all  this.  At  the 
Judgment  Day  He  will  raise  all  of  us,  and  we  will 
put  on  our  bodies  again  as  we  do  our  clothes  and 
will  live  in  heaven  with  Him.  He  is  now  seated 
at  God’s  right  hand  praying  for  us. 

On  another  occasion,  Mr.  Roberts  spoke  to  the 
children  on  the  Temptation  in  the  Wilderness. 
Christ  was  forty  days  and  forty  nights  in  the  wil¬ 
derness,  out  on  the  prairies  and  in  the  moun¬ 
tains,  with  the  wild  beasts,  as  St.  Mark  tells  us, 
and  tempted  of  the  Devil.  There  is  no  word  in 
Shoshone  for  tempt;  the  nearest  to  it  is  tease. 
Our  Lord  was  teased  by  Satan.  Satan  said  to 
Him:  “Turn  that  stone  into  bread.”  Now  Christ 
was  perfectly  able  to  turn  the  stone  into  bread ; 
but  that  is  not  the  way  He  does  things.  He  has 
the  ground  prepared  and  the  wheat  sowed,  and  it 
grows  and  ripens,  and  is  turned  into  flour  for 
bread.  Then  the  Devil  took  Him  up  into  the 
great  city  of  Jerusalem,  on  a  high  place  of  the 
Temple,  the  largest  and  most  magnificent  church 
in  the  world,  where  all  the  Jews  worshipped;  and 
way  down  below,  all  around,  it  was  very  steep. 
The  Devil  said  to  Him :  “Cast  Thyself  down ! 
You  won’t  hurt  Yourself!  God  will  hold  You  up; 


94 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


He  under  You  will  protect  You !”  It  is  the  same 
as  when  little  eagles  fly ;  the  large  eagle  hovers 
underneath,  so  they  can  fall  on  her  and  not  hurt 
themselves.  “God's  angels  will  be  watching,  so 
that  You  will  not  fall!"  The  teasing,  the  teasing 
of  this  Evil  One ! 

Then  the  Devil  took  our  Lord  up  to  an  exceed¬ 
ingly  high  mountain,  and  showed  Him  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them ; 
as  though  they  had  been  brought  together  into  a 
great  picture.  The  Devil  said :  “These  are  mine. 
I  will  give  them  to  you  if  you  will  worship  me.” 
Jesus  answered:  “I  will  worship  God  only.  He 
alone  is  to  be  served."  Then  the  angels  came 
and  ministered  to  Christ.  They  are  beautiful 
beings,  very  strong,  and  they  fly.  But  our  Lord 
did  not  fly.  When  He  ascended,  He  went  up; 
right  up  into  heaven.  They  are  the  messengers 
of  God ;  they  wait  on  Him,  and  go  to  help  those 
who  need  defense  on  earth. 

If  we  keep  God’s  Commandments,  we  shall  find 
ourselves,  when  we  die,  right  near  the  open  door 
of  our  Father’s  home,  and  directly  with  the 
angels.  But  we  must  keep  God’s  commandments, 
and  we  must  take  care  of  our  bodies.  Some 
people  commit  suicide.  God  has  given  us  our 
lives ;  they  are  to  go  back  to  Him  in  His  good  ap¬ 
pointed  time.  Suppose  a  friend  has  given  you  a 
present  and  you  throw  it  in  his  face !  So  people 
do  when  they  take  their  own  lives ;  they  throw 
the  beautiful  gift  of  life  back  into  God’s  face. 


IN  CONCLUSION 


95 


In  addition  to  all  the  strenuous,  active  work 
that  Mr.  Roberts  has  accomplished  in  his  sojourn 
on  this  Indian  Reservation  in  charge  of  the  Ara¬ 
pahoe,  Shoshone,  and  white  missions,  he  has 
translated  St.  Luke’s  Gospel  into  Arapahoe,  and 
also  the  Prayer  Book,  except  the  Psalms,  and 
some  of  the  minor  offices.  This  language  is  sim¬ 
ilar  to  the  Hebrew ;  well  constructed  and  beauti¬ 
ful.  For  the  beginner  it  is  more  difficult  than 
the  Shoshone;  but  becomes  much  easier  as  one 
advances  in  it.  He  has  translated  Morning 
Prayer  and  part  of  the  Communion  Service  into 
the  Shoshone,  also  a  Catechism,  which  is  mostly 
negative,  denying  the  beliefs  of  these  Indians, 
and  at  the  same  time  giving  them  the  truths  of 
the  Gospel.  It  was  an  extremely  difficult  task, 
as  neither  language  had  ever  before  been  re¬ 
duced  to  writing. 

The  story  of  the  early  life  of  the  Rev.  Sherman 
Coolidge,  under  the  title  of  “Desthewa,  the 
Young  Arapahoe”,  has  also  been  most  entertain¬ 
ingly  and  comprehensively  written  by  Mr. 
Roberts. 

Through  the  important  position  he  has  held 
and  still  occupies,  Mr.  Roberts  is  evidently 
looked  upon  as  an  overseer  with  insight,  accur¬ 
ate,  trustworthy,  arriving  at  correct  results  with¬ 
out  jumping  at  hasty  conclusions,  of  which  an 
ordinary  traveller  might  be  accused.  He  has 
lived  among  these  Indians  for  more  than  a  gen¬ 
eration,  working  with  them  in  the  endeavor  for 


96 


SHOSHONE  FOLK  LORE 


their  betterment,  spiritually,  mentally,  and  do¬ 
mestically.  He  thinks  that  the  tribes  are  now  on 
the  highway  to  Christianity.  They  are  honest,  as 
a  rule,  or  not  given  to  petty  stealing.  There  are 
scarcely  any  cases  of  violence.  There  is  little 
inter-marrying  with  the  whites.  They  are  taught 
to  be,  and  should  be,  self-supporting  and  gentle¬ 
men. 

In  the  midst  of  these  dark  and  sometimes  al¬ 
most  forbidding  people,  Mr.  Roberts’  face  seems 
animated  with  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Old  squaws, 
withered  and  wrinkled,  in  their  moccasins  and 
blankets,  come  to  him  for  advice  and  help.  He 
is  ever  in  demand  for  baptisms,  marriages,  and 
burials.  He  is  like  a  father  going  about  among 
them  and  calling  each  by  name  ;  sometimes  speak¬ 
ing  the  Shoshone  language,  while  with  those  who 
know  it,  all  the  younger  ones,  he  converses  in 
English.  He  has  given  his  whole  life’s  energy 
for  the  benefit  of  a  race,  once  as  wild  as  the  bears 
and  coyotes  which  infest  these  mountains ;  and 
has  succeeded  in  uplifting  them,  and  in  leading 
them  on  the  heavenward  path.  Furthermore, 
he  has  seen  the  transition  of  this  virgin  wilder¬ 
ness  into  a  land  of  settlement  and  populous 
towns,  and  has  made  himself  useful  and  promi¬ 
nent  in  this  advance. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  of  his  having  said  he  has 
retired,  Mr.  Roberts  is  busy  from  early  morning 
to  late  evening.  The  environment  has  become  a 
part  of  his  life ;  his  heart  is  still  in  the  work,  and 


IN  CONCLUSION 


97 


he  is  just  as  earnestly  concerned  as  ever  about 
the  welfare  of  the  red  men  among  whom  he  lives. 
He  could  never  be  happy  for  any  length  of  time 
away  from  them,  or  from  the  mountains  and  pas¬ 
tures  he  loves  so  well. 


NOTES 

Some  Shoshone  Sacred  Words 

God — dam  Api^ 

Son  of  God — dam  Apua  Andua. 

Holy  Ghost — dam  Apua  Swap  Sant. 

Soul — Moogwa. 

Bible,  God’s  Book — dam  Apua  undewop. 

Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour — Dzees  Crist  dame  Magwid- 
jwniwap. 


The  Lord’s  Prayer.  Dam  Apua  Nashwuhi 

Nim  Apur  nimevant,  U  nane  ha  sant, 

Des  nim  oud  Un  nangarogwshwugai, 

Nonza  dam  sogovant  undzaewhe, 

Damuvant  wahaews.  Sikan  dave  nim 
Yudigapa  nime  mag.  Non  hinan  ditc 
Nime  igwekapant  ka  ditc  nime  swan-gint, 

Nime  dadzno  nime  ditc  dieigwekapant  ka  ditc  nime 
swangun. 

Kadino  didjindimbed  nime  jamur, 

Kadzan  no  ditcint  nime  dawri ; 

Un,  Unt  ish  oit  da  Apua, 

Des  Nin  oiok  mavanarwchant,  desint  swmank 
Un  ish  nime  mavejeachant, 


Amen. 


SOME  SHOSHONE  WORDS  AND 
PROPER  NAMES 

Husband — go-opwa. 

Wife — gwe. 

Father — apwa. 

Mother — beah 
Children — dirapira. 

Boy — doainipwa. 

Grandmother — ga-goo. 


Phrases 

I  don’t  know — Ka-shoon-banah. 

He  knows  nothing — Ka-hinne-shoon-banah. 

Names  for  Men 

Wolf’s  Brother — Idgapwaumbave. 

Rabbit  Tail — Taboomgwash. 

Yellow  or  White  Beaver — Ondombit. 

Hairy  Leggings — Bugoosa. 

Red  Cloud — Engadomop. 

Red  Sun — Engadab. 

Names  for  Women 

Elk  Calling  (Good  name  for  a  woman) — Bareyagat. 
Mountain  Woman — Dotawipe. 

Good  Woman — Zawipe. 

Slender  Woman — Ganavish. 


Population  of  the  Shoshone  Indian  Reservation 


There  are  about  seventeen  hundred  Indians  on  the 

Reservation,  including  the  Arapahoes. 

Total  number  of  Shoshones  Males  (1921)  478 

“  “  “  “  Females  421 

“  “  “  “  Births  40 

“  “  “  “  Deaths  25 

“  “  “  “  Minors,  (Male  to  20  yr  )  197 

“  “  “  “  “  Female  to  18  yr.)  201 

“  “  “  Male  Adults,  21  yrs.  and  over  281 

“  “  “  Female  “  18  yrs.  and  over  220 

“  “  “  Families  412 

“  “  “  Shoshone  Population  899 


PRINTED  IN 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 
BY 

MOREHOUSE  PUBLISHING  CO. 
MILWAUKEE,  WIS. 


E99  .S404 

Shoshone  folk  lore,  as  discovered  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1  1012  00024  0798 


